7 acting, former top officials of Georgia’s Adjara region detained
The detention concerns the project which should have helped homeless people.Photo: droa.ge.
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Adjara Prosecutor’s Office has detained seven acting and former top officials of Adjara Autonomous Republic in western Georgia for misuse of official power and misspending of state money.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that former Mayor of Batumi Giorgi Ermakov, deputy head of Adjara Education, Culture and Sport Ministry, Deputy Head of Adjara Finance Ministry, vice-mayor of Batumi, a head of Batumi City Hall Property and Service Management agency, a deputy head of Batumi city infrastructure agency and the head of Batumi City Hall department for state procurements have been detained.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the detention concerns the construction of residential buildings in Batumi and the electronic tender opened for the state-offered, Cheap House, project.
Former Mayor of Batumi Giorgi Ermakov. Photo: Reginfo.
The project was pushed forward in 2013 to hand over flats with their prime cost to the homeless families living in Batumi for more than five years. The families would have had a chance to pay the flat price for ten years.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the individuals helped Convert Georgia, a branch of a foreign company, win the tender in 2015, in the situation when the winning company presented a fake documentation and a fake partner bank.
The agency says that it was easy to recheck the details as the company previously ran in the state-announced tender and was rejected for presenting a fake documentation.
It was also known for several of the detainees that the bank named by the company was fake, and did not exit,” the office reports.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the deal worth of 4,279 990 GEL (1,525,850 USD) was signed with Convert Georgia, and 1,626,396 GEL was placed in advance on the company’s account.
The company has carried out the works worth of 251,109 GEL (89,523 USD), while the works of 1, 370, 076 GEL (488,452 USD) have not been conducted. The money was misspent,” the agency says.
The detainees and their lawyers have not made their comments so far.
Former mayor of Georgia’s coastal city of Batumi Giorgi Ermakov [under the Georgian Dream leadership] has been sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of authority and misspending of more than one million USD of state funds while in office.