The News in Brief

Former SSSG Deputy Head Arrested on Bribery Charges Linked to Confiscated Cash at Russia Border

The State Security Service of Georgia arrested former deputy head Levan Akhobadze on allegations of taking a particularly large bribe, the agency announced on May 22.

According to SSSG anti-corruption agency head Emzar Gagnidze, Akhobadze in April 2024 learned that a private entrepreneur had 40 million Russian rubles, equivalent to approximately 1.16 million GEL, confiscated at the Larsi border checkpoint with Russia for undeclared cash. After the entrepreneur was denied the funds' return through legal channels at the Revenue Service, Akhobadze contacted him through intermediaries and offered to help.

The entrepreneur ultimately recovered the cash on April 30, 2024, after paying the legally required 10% fine. Akhobadze then contacted him again through intermediaries and demanded 500,000 GEL in exchange for his assistance. Gagnidze said the then-SSSG chief Grigol Liluashvili intervened at that point, and the demanded amount was halved. Within days, the entrepreneur transferred 250,000 GEL to an intermediary for delivery to Akhobadze. "The bribe money was handed over the same day to the then deputy head of the State Security Service in his own office," Gagnidze said.

The case is being investigated under Article 338 of Georgia's Criminal Code, which covers bribe-taking and carries a sentence of 11 to 15 years in prison.

Akhobadze's arrest is linked to the same period when the SSSG was headed by Liluashvili, who resigned in April 2025 and has been in custody since December 2025 on separate bribery charges. Shortly after the briefing, Razhden Kuprashvili, the former head of the now-abolished Anti-Corruption Bureau, announced he would serve as Akhobadze's lawyer.



Third SSSG Employee Found Dead in Months; Prosecutors Open Incitement to Suicide Probe

Georgian prosecutors said they are investigating "incitement to suicide" after an employee of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service of Georgia was found dead in their car in the town of Khashuri from a gunshot wound inflicted by their own firearm. The Prosecutor's Office announced the probe on May 23 without identifying the victim.

The SSSG expressed condolences over the death of what it described as a "distinguished, dignified, and professional employee" but offered no further details.

The death is the third such case involving SSSG employees in less than a year. In October 2025, an SSSG employee was found dead in Chakvi in the Adjara region, with authorities suspecting suicide and media reporting a gunshot wound. In January 2026, an employee of the same Anti-Corruption agency was found dead in his car outside SSSG headquarters in Tbilisi, also from a gunshot wound, with the agency saying the man had picked up the firearm from the office earlier that day.