Prosecutor’s Office says it has returned unlawfully seized property to owners
By Messenger Staff
Wednesday, March 9
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has released a statement, saying it has returned unlawfully seized properties to their rightful owners, who faced unjust seizures of propety under the previous state leadership.
Prosecutor's Office representatives met the five people who had regained their real estate ilwhich had been illegally grabbed by the former authorities.
The value of the three apartments and an office area reached nearly half million dollars.
The investigation revealed that the Chief Prosecutor’s office under the United National Movement (UNM) Government illegally accused the director and a founder of a development company Mshenebeli XXI, Merab Lursmanashvili and Nugzar Barbakadze, of fabricating company documents in September 2010.
Afterwards, a prosecutor summoned the wives of the pair to the Prosecutor’s Office headquarters and told them to concede their two apartments in Tbilisi; otherwise their husbands would be sent to prison.
They had to accept the terms, and the Prosecutor’s Office signed a plea bargain with the developers, forcing them to pay fine for the “violation” but did not mention the confiscated two flats in the deal.
Another case also concerned the illegal seizure of a real estate.
In particular, in July 2011, the Tbilisi Appellate Court unlawfully sentenced Ramaz Totladze to nine years in prison for illegal registration of property. Totladze had to pay fine worth 50,000 GEL and saw his apartment and the office area confiscated.
In January 2016, through the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Appellate Court re-studied the issue, seized the nine-year sentence and the fine. The man could also regain his illegally seized property.
