Former Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze has been arrested on charges of abuse of office and money laundering involving more than ₾1.5 million ($560,000). If sentenced, he faces up to 12 years in prison.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) announced the arrest during a press briefing Thursday afternoon.
Burchuladze served as Minister of Defence from February 2021 until February 2024 under prime minister Irakli Gharibashvili, having previously served as deputy defence minister.
Previously, in July, the SSG detained Burchuladze’s former deputy, Giorgi Khaindrava, the former head of the ministry’s procurement department, Vladimer Ghudushauri, and a ‘close relative of the minister at the time’, who, according to local media, could be Vasil Mkheidze, Burchuladze’s brother-in-law.
All three were charged with embezzlement, with the SSG calling them a ‘criminal group’ that had carried out a plan resulting in a loss of ₾1.3 million ($500,000) from the Defence Ministry’s budget.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
During Thursday’s briefing, the head of the SSG’s anti-corruption agency, Emzar Gagnidze, reported that Burchaladze had instructed his subordinates, with the help of his close relative, to manipulate a ministry procurement deal for medical equipment for his own benefit.
According to the SSG, the item in question was an MRI machine, the price of which was inflated from ₾2.6 million ($970,000) to ₾3.9 million ($1.5 million).
Gagnidze alleged that Burchuladze then concealed his income by purchasing land and a house in Spain for €544,000 ($640,000) in January 2025, while concealing the purchase via a fake sale agreement and fictitious loans. The SSG further claimed Burchuladze had failed to declare the property in his declaration of assets in March.
‘Through these methods, Juansher Burchuladze laundered illegal or unjustified income in the particularly large amount of ₾1,593,212 ($590,000)’, Gagnidze said.
Burchuladze was arrested at his home on Thursday, after which he was taken to a local clinic.
According to the SSG’s press service, as reported by RFE/RL, Burchuladze stated during his arrest that he had fallen off his quad bike while in the eastern region of Kakheti a few days ago, and was suffering from a mild concussion that required bed rest. He therefore requested to be transferred to a medical facility. The SSG noted that for this reason, the footage of Burchuladze’s arrest would not be made public.
Burchuladze’s lawyer Dimitri Khachidze told reporters outside the family home that they had not expected the arrest and that the accusation was ‘absurd’.
Late Thursday evening, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze commented on Burchuldaze’s arrest, emphasising that fighting corruption was one of the government’s priorities.
‘Naturally, the arrest of the former minister is very unfortunate in itself, but we cannot be loyal to corruption’, Kobakhidze said, noting that the government had a goal to be ‘among the top three in Europe in terms of low corruption’.
‘How all this will continue, how long it will last and what the outcome will be — this is already the business of law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor’s office and the court. I have no right to make specific comments on these processes. The main thing is that the rule of law and justice operates in our country’, Kobakhdize concluded.
According to Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Georgia ranks 53rd out of 180 countries, the same as in 2023, but a three-point decrease from 2022. Within Europe, it ranks lower than over 20 other countries.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
