The former deputy head of the Infrastructure Ministry’s Roads Department has been arrested, while three managers from an Azerbaijani company and one international expert have been charged in absentia over corrupt deals allegedly leading to the 2023 bridge collapse on a Western Georgian highway.
The cases center on a bridge along the Samtredia-Grigoleti highway in Western Georgia, which collapsed ინ February 2023, with the Roads Department initially attributing it to flooding from the rising Rioni River. By December, investigators had established that the bridge was built with defects, of poor quality, and not in accordance with project specifications. The prosecutors said on November 10 that the collapse caused more than GEL 16 million (USD 5.9 million) in damage to the state budget.
According to Malkhaz Kapanadze, Head of the Prosecutor’s Office Department for Combating Corruption Crimes, in 2018, the Roads Department contracted the Azerbaijani construction company Akkord to build an 11.5-kilometer section of the Samtredia–Grigoleti highway, including several bridge crossings. A consortium of four international companies was hired to provide supervision, while daily on-site oversight was assigned to the Roads Department.
The supervision, however, was never actually carried out, prosecutors argue, as “not a single authorized expert from the supervisory company was present in Georgia,” which was also allegedly known to the Roads Department. Despite their absence from Georgia, investigators allege that international experts “still approved falsified acts of completed work prepared by representatives of the construction company,” which were also signed by Levan Kupatashvili, then Deputy Head of the Roads Department.
Based on these false reports, authorities say, Kupatashvili facilitated payment of GEL 1.17 million to the absent international expert, while the construction company fraudulently appropriated GEL 3.86 million “through unperformed and poorly performed work,” which ultimately led to the collapse of the bridge, according to Kapanadze. Subsequent restoration work cost an additional GEL 12 million, bringing the total damage to over GEL 16 million, Kapanadze added.
Kupatashvili has been arrested and charged with embezzlement of large sums of money through the abuse of official position and abuse of official authority, which carries up to 11 years imprisonment. The director and project managers of the Akkord construction company have been charged in absentia with fraudulent appropriation of large sums of money through the abuse of official position and forging and using false official documents, facing up to nine years in prison. An engineer leading the supervisory international consortium has also been charged in absentia for assisting in the alleged fraud.
The prosecutors have not identified the company managers and the expert, however.
The criminal proceedings come amid Georgian Dream’s declared “uncompromising” anti-corruption drive and a rise in arrests and prosecutions on similar charges of former officials and associates linked to the ruling party, including money-laundering charges brought against ex-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
On October 31, the authorities detained former deputy regional development and infrastructure minister Koba Gabunia on charges of abuse of office and searched 20 locations, including the home of former minister Irakli Karseladze.
Karseladze stepped down on April 24, which came amid Georgian Dream’s reshuffling its ranks. He was replaced by Revaz Sokhadze.
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