Two Officials Sent to Pre-Trial Detention for Bribe-related Charges
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, January 30
Head of the Tskaltubo City Assembly Grigol Ivaneishvili, who was detained last week for bribe-taking and Deputy Governor of Tbilisi Vake district Teimuraz Chochua, who is charged with the assisted in the possible offense, were sent to pre-trial detention on Monday.
None of the detainees admit to the crime and they speak about the “misunderstanding which will be cleared out.”
The Anti-Corruption Department of the Georgian State Security Service (SSS) detained Ivaneishvili on 25 January for taking a bribe in especially large quantities.
The agency said that Ivaneishvili took a bribe worth 250,000 GEL from a foreign businessman who wanted to buy a former building of the Tskaltubo City Assembly and its adjoining land plot.
The prosecution says that Chochua was involved in the process, “he knew everything and did not inform law enforcers.”
“Ivaneishvili promised the foreign businessman to put up the former building of the Tskaltubo City Assembly on auction for a preliminary negotiated price and promised assistance in terms of purchasing the property,” SSS reported.
The agency says that in return, Ivaneishvili demanded the bribe which he received after the businessman won the tender.
The agency says that Ivaneishvili was detained as soon as the money was transferred to the bank account of his son.
Ivaneishvili claims that the” whole City Assembly” of Tskaltubo, which is a resort town near Kutaisi in western Georgia, was interested in the sale of the building.
“The process was transparent and everyone knew about. A tender was announced twice for the building but in vain. I was a businessman before I became the head of the assembly and some people might have taken my style of wording wrongly,” Ivaneishvili told the court.
The prosecution says that they have video and audio recordings and there are witnesses, including the mentioned businessman, “proving” that Ivaneishvili took the bribe.
If confirmed Ivaneishvili may be sent to prison up to 15 years.
