Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced the detention of a person on charges of laundering $665 million between 2022 and 2024. The agency did not specify who was detained, prompting speculation that it could be a former high-ranking Georgian Dream official.
The Prosecutor General’s Office stated on Tuesday evening that the unidentified detainee owned a currency exchange office, through which he ‘set up an illegal network for collecting funds of unverified origin, altering their provenance through conversion, and placing them into legal circulation’.
The agency stressed that in doing so, the defendant disregarded Georgia’s law on facilitating the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.
According to the investigation, the detainee was assisted by members of a ‘criminal group’ who systematically smuggled foreign currency of unverified origin from neighboring countries, bypassing customs procedures by using specially designed hiding places in vehicles, and delivered the money to his currency exchange office.
The Prosecutor General’s Office further stated that the defendant deposited the funds in banks, falsely claiming them as proceeds from currency exchanges.
‘Funds obtained from bank conversions were transferred to other individuals, further disposed of, or used to purchase real estate and [other assets], thereby being introduced into the legal economy’, the statement read.
According to the agency, the defendant laundered a total of $624 million and €35 million ($41 million) between 2022 and 2024.
‘As part of the investigative measures carried out in the case, a large amount of cash was seized’, the Prosecutor General’s Office added.
If convicted, the detainee would face up to 12 years in prison.
The Prosecutor General’s Office statement about the case and the especially large sum of money involved have sparked speculation on social media about the possible identity of the suspect.
Many suspected that it could be a former high-ranking official, especially in light of recent arrests of several members of former Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili’s cabinet on corruption charges, including the former Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze and two former deputy ministers.
Later at night, the Prosecutor General’s Office told pro-government media that the detainee is not a publicly known figure.
On Wednesday, the opposition-leaning TV Pirveli reported that the detained individual is 49-year-old businessperson Kakha Kotorashvili. Little is known about him, except that he is the owner of FIN, a company founded in Tbilisi in 2010.
OC Media reached out to the Prosecutor General’s Office press service for comment on the identity of the alleged detainee following TV Pirveli’s reporting, but the press service said they have no information on the matter and had to look into it.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
