Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) announced the detention of individuals from the circle of former Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze, including his deputy and a close relative. They were charged with embezzlement.
In a little over a month, this is the second detention of a former deputy minister from the period when Irakli Gharibashvili — now retired from politics — was prime minister.
Those detained included Burchuladze’s former Deputy Giorgi Khaindrava and the ministry’s former Head of the Procurement Department, Vladimer Ghudushauri. Sunday’s statement by the SSG also mentioned another detainee, described as a ‘close relative of the minister at the time’, who, according to local media, could be Vasil Mkheidze, Burchuladze’s brother-in-law.
On Monday, the Prosecutor General’s Office charged all three of them and requested pre-trial detention as a preventive measure for each.
According to the SSG, a ‘criminal group’ carried out a plan that resulted in the embezzlement of ₾1.3 million ($500,000) from the Ministry of Defence budget.
The statement said that the group’s members conducted the medical equipment procurement process without proper market research. Furthermore, the SSG reported that they ensured only companies connected to Burchuladze’s relatives could participate in the procurement procedures.
The statement also noted that the detainees arranged to artificially inflate the equipment’s price through fictitious transactions and false tax documents, ‘reselling’ the items several times. As a result, the ministry purchased the inventory at a value ‘significantly higher than the market price’.
The SSG also claimed that the former minister’s relative promised guaranteed success to the pre-selected companies participating in the procurement and cited his ‘connections with the relevant officials’ as the guarantee for winning.
If convicted, the detainees face up to 11 years in prison. According to the SSG, ‘the investigation is ongoing to identify and expose other individuals involved’.
Khaindrava, who was appointed deputy minister in 2022, served in the position until February 2024 — a few days after his appointer Burchuladze was replaced by Irakli Chikovani, who still holds the post of Defence Minister. These personnel changes followed the resignation of then–Prime Minister Gharibashvili in late January of the same year. Irakli Kobakhidze, who succeeded Gharibashvili as prime minister, said that Burchuladze himself wanted to move from politics to ‘another field’.
Before becoming deputy minister, Khaindrava worked at the same ministry as the procurement department head.
According to RFE/RL, another detainee, Ghudushauri, had worked at the Defence Ministry since 2019, serving as Deputy Head of the Procurement Department until 2021 and as the department’s head from 2021 to 2024. His brother, Ilia Ghudushauri, served as Deputy Health Minister from 2022 until March 2024.
The SSG has not mentioned whether the investigation involved Burchuladze himself.
Levan Khabeishvili, former chair of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party and current head of its political council, claimed that the former minister was also detained on Saturday and released on the condition that he would ‘bring the money’.
He further claimed during an interview with opposition-allinged TV Pirveli that the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili ‘is in trouble because the sanctions are working and he is looking for cash, going to everyone and telling them to hand over millions’.
Besik Donadze, a member of the opposition Coalition For Change party, also commented on the detention of Burchuladze’s associates, calling it ‘one corrupt clan’s revenge on another’.
‘As long as Kobakhidze’s clan remains in power, it will completely destroy Irakli Gharibashvili’s clan’, he said.
Khaindrava’s detention was preceded by the 21 June arrest of Romeo Mikautadze, a former deputy economy minister.
Mikautadze, who had served as deputy minister since 2021 and as first deputy from 2022 until February 2024, is accused of abuse of power and money laundering.
Three days after the deputy minister’s arrest, on 24 June, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili himself resigned. Around the same time, Kobakhidze stated that he had no doubts about Davitashvili’s integrity.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
