Former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Koba Gabunia has been arrested on charges of abuse of office, while the residence of former Minister Irakli Karseladze was searched, Deputy Head of the Investigation Service Ia Akhalaia announced at a briefing held at the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.

“Employees of the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with the State Security Service, have arrested the former Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Koba Gabunia, who oversaw the Municipal Development Fund, Legal Entity of Public Law (LEPL), on charges of abuse of official authority by a state political official.

As part of complex investigative measures, searches were conducted at 20 different locations, including the personal and residential properties of Koba Gabunia, former Minister of Infrastructure Irakli Karseladze, and several other individuals.

The former Executive Director of the Municipal Development Fund, Davit Tabidze, along with the program manager and project manager of the fund, had previously been detained. They fully cooperated with the investigation and were released on bail as a preventive measure.

The heads of Lagi Capital LLC were arrested on charges of fraudulently appropriating GEL 9,365,801 allocated from the Municipal Development Fund for the rehabilitation of 30 kindergartens, and legalising GEL 1,211,000 in illegal proceeds.

The investigation has established that they possessed information that the advance payment requests submitted by Lagi Capital LLC during the period from July 2023 to May 2024 were unsubstantiated and only partially secured. The named individuals abused their official authority and, with the intention of conferring advantage, even though the advance received by the company in July 2023 had not been spent for its intended purpose, nevertheless issued unsubstantiated advances totalling GEL 11,218,380 to Lagi Capital LLC for kindergarten rehabilitation in 2023-2024, of which the heads of Lagi Capital LLC fraudulently appropriated GEL 9,365,801.

The investigation is being carried out under Articles 332, Part 1; 180, Parts 2 and 3; 194, Parts 2 and 3; and 362, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which stipulates imprisonment for a term of nine to twelve years.

The investigation remains ongoing and intensive, aiming to identify others involved in the crime and taking appropriate action,” Akhalaia said.