Tbilisi City Hall employee detained for alleged bribery

Police have detained a staff of Tbilisi City Hall for alleged bribery.

Officers of the Anti-corruption Agency under the State Security Service of Georgia have detained an employee of the City Hall, previously an adviser to the Education Minister, 28-year-old Otar Abesadze yesterday.

The office said that an investigation established that in May of 2017 Abesadze promised several Georgian citizens assistance in appropriating permits from various departments of Tbilisi City Hall in the short term allowing them to arrange a café and relevant infrastructure on a raft on the river Mtkvari and in return he demanded $3,000 USD.

Moreover, the detainee allegedly explained to those citizens that all the issues had been negotiated in the Architecture Service, as well as the Property Management and the Supervision Departments under Tbilisi City Hall and they could proceed with the necessary works in terms of arranging of the raft. Allegedly, the detainee also ensured that the citizens were not fined by the employees of the Supervision Department under Tbilisi City Hall during repair works.

The State Security Service said that yesterday, on July 11 Abesadze took the demanded money to the amount of $3,000 from one of the citizens, after which he was detained.

An investigation is being carried out into the matter and if proven wrong, the detainee will have to spend from six to nine years behind bars for bribery.