The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has charged the former Executive Director of the Municipal Development Fund with abuse of official authority, the agency announced.

According to the investigation conducted by the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance, the Municipal Development Fund announced tenders in February 2023 for the design and construction of kindergartens in various municipalities, in which LLC Lagi Capital was declared the winning company.

“The head of the Municipal Development Fund and the project managers were responsible for supervising and monitoring the implementation of this large-scale project. They were also responsible for verifying the contractor’s justification for advance payment requests and making the corresponding decisions.

The defendant was aware that Lagi Capital was requesting advance payments without any justification and without carrying out the work required under the contracts. Despite this, he abused his official authority and gradually transferred more than 11,200,000 GEL to Lagi Capital as an advance payment for the start of construction works, even though in some cases no construction projects had been prepared yet.

Of the transferred funds, the managers of Lagi Capital illegally appropriated 9,365,000 GEL. As a result, 22 kindergartens envisaged under the project were never built.

The accused has been charged under Part 1 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code (abuse of official authority).

The Prosecutor’s Office will apply to the court for a preventive measure within the timeframe established by law.

We remind the public that, in connection with this case, criminal prosecution has also been initiated against two other employees of the Municipal Development Fund for abuse of official authority. They were granted bail as a preventive measure, taking into account their cooperation with investigators.

Additionally, criminal prosecution has been launched against the currently imprisoned executives of LLC Lagi Capital for the fraudulent appropriation of 9,365,801 GEL allocated for kindergarten rehabilitation projects, as well as for the legalization of 1,211,000 GEL in illicit income,” the statement reads.