Georgian authorities have raided the homes of former prime minister Irakli Gharibashvili, former State Security Service (SSG) head Grigol Liluashvili, former Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze, and eight others associated with them.
In a shock press briefing on Friday evening, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that searches had taken place in 22 locations nationwide.
Gharibashvili, Liluashvili, and Partskhaladze were all members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and previously seen as being closely allied with party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.
In their announcement, the Prosecutor Office said investigations were being carried out by its own investigative division, as well as by the SSG’s anti-corruption and state security departments. They did not specify the nature of the investigations, but confirmed that electronic devices, documents, and large sums of cash were seized during the searches.
The raids come amidst investigations and detentions of several former officials from Garibashvili’s tenure. In September, former Minister of Defence Juansher Burchuladze was arrested on corruption charges, which was preceded by the detentions of two former deputy ministers.
From party loyalists to outsiders
Speculation and leaks suggesting Gharibashvili could soon be targeted by the authorities have circulated for several months.
Gharibashvili accompanied Ivanishvili into politics having previously worked in several of his businesses. In 2012, Gharibashvili was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs in the first government formed by Georgian Dream after coming to power.
In 2013, he succeeded Ivanishvili as prime minister, a position he held until the end of 2015 before stepping away from public politics. He returned in 2019 to serve as Defence Minister. In 2021, following the resignation of then‑Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia — Gharibashvili again took over as PM. Gakharia stepped down and went into opposition over apparent disagreements over the arrest of the then head of the opposition UNM, Nika Melia.
In 2024, he stepped down as prime minister soon after Ivanishvili announced his formal return to politics, and shortly before the party pushed through the controversial foreign agent law, which Gharibashvili’s government had been forced to withdraw amidst protests. He was succeeded as prime minister by Irakli Kobakhidze, who remains in the position.
After stepping down as PM, Gharibashvili took on the role of chair of Georgian Dream, maintaining a low public profile. Rumours of tension between him and the party leadership prior to his exit from politics in April have several times emerged. This included reports that Gharibashvili wished to leave the party amidst the widespread public backlash against the government, and was physically assaulted by fellow party members as a result. Gharibashvili denied this as a ‘disgusting lie’, insisting he had sustained a minor injury while exercising.
Liluashvili, whose home was also raided on Friday, served as the head of the SSG from 2019 until April 2025, when the government announced he would be appointed Minister of Regional Development. However, two days later, Kobakhidze stated that an agreement could not be reached on several issues, including the functions of the deputy ministers, and as a result, Liluashvili’s candidacy was withdrawn. He was replaced as SSG head by Anri Okhanashvili, who was then replaced five months later by prominent Georgian Dream figure Mamuka Mdinaradze.
Following 4 October’s failed ‘peaceful revolution’ there have been widespread suggestions, including by TV station Formula, that Liluashvili had been feeding protest organisers information before ultimately betraying them.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
Partskhaladze, who holds Russian citizenship, briefly served as Georgia’s general prosecutor in late-2013 and has faced past accusations of violence and extortion on behalf of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. In 2023, the US sanctioned him for ties to Russia’s consulting sector and its ‘malign influence’ on Georgia.
