Tbilisi court sentences former Ivanishvili confidant to 11 years in absentia

The former ally of Georgian Dream founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, businessperson Giorgi Bachiashvili, who fled Georgia last week due to safety concerns, has been sentenced to 11 years in absentia by the Tbilisi City Court. The verdict relates to the so-called ‘Bitcoin case’ initiated against him, in which Ivanishvili is also involved.

The sentence, announced by Judge Giorgi Gelashvili on Monday afternoon, was the maximum penalty that could be imposed for the charges brought against Bachiashvili.

Bachiashvili wanted to participate in the court hearing online and deliver his final statement, but the judge denied his lawyer’s motion. The businessperson, whose current location is unknown, responded to the court’s decision with a Facebook post, calling it ‘shameful’.

Bachiashvili served as the general director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund — founded by Ivanishvili in 2013 shortly after coming to power — until 2019, when he moved to the position of chair of the fund’s advisory board.

Once close partners, their paths diverged in recent years, accompanied by investigations against Bachiashvili — both of which involve Ivanishvili — which he considered politically motivated.

As part of the investigation, he was prohibited from leaving the country.

The ‘Bitcoin case’, for which the verdict was announced on Monday, was initiated in 2023 following a statement by Ivanishvili accusing Bachiashvili of illegally appropriating ₿8,253 — worth around $40 million at the time, according to the investigation — and money laundering.

According to the investigation, Bachiashvili had purchased the bitcoins using investments made by Ivanishvili but allegedly did not return the profits from those investments to Georgian Dream’s founder.

Bachiashvili rejected the validity of the charge, stating that what the prosecutor referred to as an investment was actually a loan, and Ivanishvili had simply lent him money from his Cartu Bank.

In a televised interview given to the opposition-leaning TV Pirveli after leaving the country, Bachiashvili said that he had information indicating that a verdict against him was planned for Monday’s hearing. The businessperson added that once arrested, he ‘would have been completely defenceless in prison, face to face with Ivanishvili’s executioners’.

According to Bachiashvili, the head of one of the law enforcement agencies — whose identity he did not specify — had been told by Ivanishvili that they will ‘smash him in prison, and then we’ll see how he sings from there’.

In the ‘Bitcoin case’, Bachiashvili was initially granted bail of ₾2.5 million ($900,000) as a preventive measure in the summer of 2023. However, after he left the country, this measure was quickly replaced with pretrial detention in absentia.

Two other cases

The second case against Bachiashvili was launched in February this year, with the General Prosecutor’s Office accusing him of failing to fulfill or improperly fulfilling his official duties, which allegedly led to severe consequences.

This case — still ongoing — was related to the Mtkvari Hydropower Plant project, a Co-Investment Fund initiative launched in 2014.

According to the investigation, the project’s budget had nearly doubled compared to initial estimates, but the plant remained unfinished. The prosecution claims that Bachiashvili, in his role as the fund’s executive director, failed to properly assess and manage the project’s associated risks.

In this charge, the court ordered a bail of ₾50,000 ($18,000) for Bachiashvili, but, like in the first case, this was replaced with pretrial detention after the businessperson’s departure from Georgia.

The third case against Bachiashvili, which concerns illegal border crossing, was initiated last week following his escape. One person was arrested in relation to the case. According to the investigation, the unnamed person ‘helped’ Bachiashvili secretly cross into Armenia before transporting him to the Yerevan International Airport.

The prosecution stated that they had already contacted Interpol regarding the issuance of a red notice for him. However, Bachiashvili’s lawyer claimed that his legal team had provided information to ‘Interpol and all relevant authorities’ to ensure that the businessman would not be arrested.

Bachiashvili’s bail and subsequent departure from the country raised questions for some about how the businessperson managed to evade the influential founder of the ruling party. When asked by a TV Pirveli anchor whether there had been any kind of deal between him and Ivanishvili, Bachiashvili denied it.

Diverging paths

Ivanishvili and Bachiashvili have different versions regarding when their paths diverged, with Ivanishvili’s lawyer stating that Bachiashvili was once ‘very close’ to the billionaire and enjoyed his ‘special trust’.

Ivanishvili’s side attributed the conflict to Bachiashvili’s dishonesty, while Bachiashvili claims that their partnership ended due to political and ideological disagreements.

According to him, after the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, he disagreed with the ruling party’s ‘anti-Western narratives and propaganda’, including the conspiracy theory about the ‘Global War Party’ and the claim that the dispute between Ivanishvili and the Swiss banking giant was part of the West’s campaign against the founder of Georgian Dream.

Against the backdrop of legal disputes, Bachiashvili repeatedly appeared in the media and courts, criticising Georgian Dream’s rule and recalling experiences he claimed to have had during his time working with Ivanishvili. Among other things, he asserted that Georgian judges and prosecutors frequently visited Ivanishvili, in an allusion to the ruling party’s influence on the judiciary.

Bachiashvili’s statements were followed by harsh criticism from representatives of the ruling party and individuals associated with it.

Former Ivanishvili confidant flees Georgia and vows to ‘expose’ him

Giorgi Bachiashvili is embroiled in two financial disputes with his former ally, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia