Prosecutor’s Office releases official details following 13-year prison sentence for former SSSG Head Grigol Liluashvili

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has released an official statement regarding the 13-year prison sentence handed down to former Head of the State Security Service (SSSG) Grigol Liluashvili.

According to the Prosecutor’s press release, Tbilisi City Court fully endorsed the evidence submitted by the state and found former SSSG chief Grigol Liluashvili guilty on multiple counts of taking exceptionally large-scale bribes.

“Based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, the court sentenced former Head of the State Security Service Grigol Liluashvili to 13 years’ imprisonment for taking exceptionally large-scale bribes. Accepting all evidence presented by the prosecution, the Tbilisi City Court convicted Grigol Liluashvili, the former head of the State Security Service, on charges of exceptionally large-scale bribery.

The evidence examined during the court proceedings established the following:

* Count One: Between 2021 and 2022, Grigol Liluashvili accepted 1,365,000 USD in bribes for leveraging his official authority and power to shield a scam call-centre operation set up in Tbilisi by an organised criminal group.
* Count Two: In 2022, Liluashvili solicited and received 1,000,000 USD in bribes through Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Romeo Mikautadze from an investor seeking to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development for the construction and development of wind power plants, in exchange for lobbying the issue to secure the desired outcome.
* Count Three: In February 2022, acting again through Romeo Mikautadze, Grigol Liluashvili demanded and received 1,500,000 GEL from the director and founder of Express Service 2008 Ltd in exchange for lobbying and securing victories in gasification tenders.
* Count Four: Exploiting his official position in exchange for bribes, Grigol Liluashvili provided patronage to Kakhaber Gvantseladze, former Director of the Tbilisi City Hall Kindergarten Management Agency. Operating through agency staff, Gvantseladze ran a systematic scheme to extort exceptionally large bribes from commercial entities in exchange for awarding kindergarten procurement contracts. The total illicit proceeds received by members of this criminal enterprise between 2018 and 2023 amounted to 5,325,943 GEL.

By verdict of Tbilisi City Court, Grigol Liluashvili was found guilty on counts of taking exceptionally large-scale bribes and handed a custodial sentence of 13 years,” the official statement read.