Security Service Arrests UNM Member Lasha Tsanava in Alleged Fraud Scheme
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) arrested Lasha Tsanava, a member of the political council of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, for allegedly deceiving a foreign national and taking money in exchange for promising to secure a residence permit in Georgia.
Tsanava, a close friend of ex-UNM chair Levan Khabeishvili, faces four to seven years in prison for a criminal charge of attempted fraud that “caused substantial damage.”
“At this stage, the investigation has revealed that L. Ts. [Lasha Tsanava] promised a foreign national a one-year residence permit in Georgia through his connections, in exchange for which he demanded USD 5,600,” Emzar Gagnidze, head of the SSSG’s Anti-Corruption Agency, said at a briefing on July 30.
The SSSG official added that Tsanava received part of the money in May and then began pressuring the foreign national to pay the remaining amount. Gagnidze said Tsanava received USD 2,500 in subsequent meetings with the foreign national in Tbilisi in late May and mid-June. Ultimately, of the demanded USD 5,600, Tsanava “appropriated through deception” USD 2,650, the official said.
The SSSG official added that the investigation involved covert operations, during which relevant audio and video evidence of the alleged crime was obtained. The agency released recordings showing a man with his face blurred, allegedly Tsanava, negotiating the payment amount and, in one instance, receiving money, reportedly in exchange for securing the necessary documents for the foreign national.
Tsanava is being tried for attempted fraud “causing substantial damage,” a charge that carries a prison sentence of four to seven years under Georgia’s Criminal Code.
The United National Movement has yet to issue an official statement regarding Tsanava’s arrest, but some party members, including former chair Levan Khabeishvili – who counts Tsanava as his aide – have described the arrest as a “provocation.”
While Khabeishvili downplayed the SSSG’s allegations, saying Tsanava may have just “assisted [foreign nationals] in organizing documentation,” noting that “hundreds of people” do the same near the Justice Hall, he added, “But they sent the SSSG agent provocateur to Lasha and recorded him with a camera.”
Khabeishvili has recently gained attention after many of his seemingly prophetic statements about apparent internal conflicts within Georgian Dream, based on unnamed sources, proved accurate. He has speculated on which current or former party members and business associates might next be targeted for financial reasons, with many of his predictions coming true shortly afterward.
The arrest of his close friend came a day after United National Movement leader and jailed ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Facebook that the State Security Service planned a “big provocation to accuse the UNM, and particularly Levan Khabeishvili, of an armed coup attempt, to arrest a large part of the leadership and charge them for coup d’état.”
UNM Chair Tinatin Bokuchava echoed Saakashvili’s warning during a July 30 briefing, saying, “The special activation of the SSSG is, of course, linked to UNM’s growing ranking.” The SSSG’s announcement of Tsanava’s arrest came just minutes before Bokuchava’s briefing.
Lasha Tsanava, a former policeman and member of the UNM party who has served as Levan Khabeishvili’s assistant, was charged last year by the Prosecutor’s Office with exceeding official powers through the use of violence during the June 15, 2009, dispersal of a rally near a Tbilisi police division. Tsanava said the case, launched 15 years after the incident, was politically motivated. He was first questioned as a witness in the case in 2015, which he reportedly linked at the time to his fallout with the Georgian Dream party, according to Interpressnews.
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