Lawyer says TBC case is now classified
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, March 4
Lawyer of TBC founders, who are involved in the Prosecutor’s Office money laundering case, says that the case has become classified.
Zviad Kordzadze, who protects the interests of Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze says that he is not allowed to speak about the details of the case and consequently, respond to the new allegations of the Prosecutor’s Office.
“My impression is that the purpose of investigation and the most recent briefing of the Prosecutor’s Office is to stain the reputation of Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze and not to clarify the case. At the same time, Khazaradze and Japaridze have only the witness status and cannot enjoy any leverage provided by the Criminal Code to legally respond to the Prosecutor's Office,” Kordazdze says.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office released a statement last week to provide details regarding the case “because of the high public interest.”
The statement came after the suspension of the meeting in parliament, where Khazaradze and Japaridze should have spoken about the case.
The reason behind the suspension was that “public discussions could harm the bank.”
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that they launched the investigation of the case on 2 August 2018, after the Georgian Financial Monitoring Service informed them about the possible violation.
In April-May 2008 the TBC Bank gave 17 million USD to LTDs Samgori M and Samgori Trade as a loan and on the same day the money was placed on the private bank accounts of Khazaradze and Japaridze,” the office said.
The Prosecutor’s Office claims that in October-November 2008 so that the companies even did not start covering the interest rate for the loan, they were given one more year to close the loan without providing any reasons and in a month time the loin was written off at all.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that despite the step the bank continued to issue loans for the two LTDs.
“In 2012 the Bank fully freed the LTDs from the financial obligations before the bank with the use of a special scheme.”
The company was created a month before the replacement took place,” the office says.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that in parallel of the replacement of the companies, the mortgage was removed on the real estate which had been provided as the guarantee for the loans.
“It is noteworthy that the trustee for the company registered in the offshore was P.Gh, who was the member of the credit committee which issued loans on the LTDs and who took the top managerial post in the bank when the LTDs were replaced with the company,” the Prosecutor’s Office says.
Japaridze and Khazaradze say that all the transactions made by the bank were legal and international audits confirmed this.
Khazaradze says that the goal of the “absurd” investigation aimed to “discredit him personally.”
He mentioned the Anaklia Deep Sea Project, a 2,5 billion USD project of regional importance, with the TBC holding as one of the major players.
The opposition says that the founder of the Georgian Dream party, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has his interests in the project.
