“As a result of several operations conducted across various regions of Georgia over the past thirty-six hours, 29 individuals have been detained and charged across 13 separate criminal cases,” the First Deputy Head of the State Security Service (SSSG), Lasha Maghradze, announced at a briefing.
He noted that so-called mid-level corruption remains a serious and persistent challenge.
“Let me begin with the operation conducted jointly by the Counter-Intelligence and Special Operations Departments. Following the processing of intelligence, two foreign nationals were detained in Kutaisi whilst attempting to illegally acquire nuclear and radioactive materials. They had been planning to purchase nuclear material, uranium, and the radioactive substance caesium-137 for three million U.S. dollars, with the intention of illegally transporting it to another country. To carry out this criminal plan, the foreign nationals had been travelling to Georgia repeatedly over recent weeks, actively engaged in creating the conditions necessary for the acquisition and transportation of the nuclear and radioactive materials. We wish to make clear to the public that the substances in question are typically used for various criminal purposes, including terrorism. The investigation is being conducted under Part 1 of Article 19-230 of the Criminal Code.
In parallel, as a result of several anti-corruption operations, 12 individuals have been charged in connection with illegal timber felling, dereliction of duty, and abuse of official authority. Among those charged are former employees of the National Forestry Agency under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, specifically from the Imereti Forestry Service, as well as a representative of the Martvili forestry district and two residents of the same municipality. A related case concerns Vani Municipality, where three individuals have been charged with forgery of official documents, their use, and the illegal felling of trees.
Additionally, officers from the Anti-Corruption Agency detained two individuals on bribery charges in Batumi and Lagodekhi Municipality. The Batumi case involves the head of a department within LLC Sandasuptaveba, who allegedly accepted bribes in exchange for allowing the use of company lorries to remove construction waste. In the Lagodekhi case, the Mayor’s representative in the village of Kabali was detained for accepting a bribe to prevent a citizen from serving a court-ordered community service sentence.
Five individuals have been charged in connection with the illegal inflation of construction coefficients, the so-called K2 coefficients, and unauthorised construction. Six individuals have been charged with the illegal registration of state-owned land into private ownership, whilst two citizens face criminal liability for artificially manipulating tender conditions, fraudulently appropriating substantial state funds, and abusing official authority.
As you can see, despite the unprecedented scale of anti-corruption efforts in recent months, so-called mid-level corruption remains a serious challenge, and one we have no intention of tolerating.
We therefore urge all citizens with any connection to such matters to cooperate fully with the investigative authorities and to provide any relevant information. To those who may still be tempted to abuse their positions for personal material gain, we issue a firm warning: every act of unlawful conduct will be thoroughly uncovered and met with the full force of the law.
We can state with confidence that the State Security Service today is an entirely different institution. Through internal reforms, personnel adjustments, and enhancements to material and technical resources implemented over recent months, the capabilities of the SSSG have been significantly strengthened. The volume of intelligence received, processed, and acted upon has increased approximately twentyfold in the past six months alone, demonstrating that the State Security Service’s analytical and operational capabilities have been enhanced to a level where it can pursue an uncompromising and effective fight against corruption whilst simultaneously ensuring the highest standards of preventive security for the country,” Maghradze declared.
