TBC Bank founders Khazaradze, Japaridze to be charged with laundering $16.7 mln
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The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office have summoned TBC founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze to charge them [later today] with laundering $16,754,000.
The Georgian Prosecutor's Office will also address the court regarding the pre-trial measure," the Prosecutor's Office said.
What is the case involving Japaridze and Khazaradze
The Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into possible money laundering on 2 August 2018, ‘after the Georgian Financial Monitoring Service sent us a written note about a possible violation’ taking place in 2007- 2008.
In April-May 2008 TBC Bank gave 17 million USD to LTDs Samgori M and Samgori Trade as a loan and on the same day the money was placed on the private bank accounts of Khazaradze and Japaridze,” the office said.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that in October-November 2008 the companies were given one more year to cover the loan.
However, in about a month, on 31 December 2008, the bank wrote off the debt without demanding the real estate had provided as the guarantee or paying the money by the guarantors,” the office says.
The Prosecutor’s Office claims that despite the step the bank continued to issue loans for the two LTDs.
In 2012 the bank fully freed the LTDs from their financial obligations before the bank with the use of a special scheme.”
Khazaradze and Japaridze left the board of TBC in February 2019.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the LTDs were replaced with an offshore company, which had no financial actives in Georgia.
The company was created a month before the replacement took place,” the office says.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that in parallel of the replacement of the companies, mortgage was removed on the real estate which had been provided as the guarantee for the loans.
It is noteworthy that the trustee for the company registered in the offshore was P.Gh, who was a member of the credit committee which issued loans on the LTDs and who took the top managerial post in the bank when the LTDs were replaced with the company,” the Prosecutor’s Office says.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that the loans of the Samgori M and Samgori Trade were written off so that the companies have never paid for the loan service and the loans have never been returned back to the bank.
Khazaradze and Japaridze say the investigation is “absurd”
Khazaradze and Japaridze, who were forced to leave the board of TBC Bank due to the investigation say that the transaction in 2007-2008 took place in full compliance with the law and that leading financial institutions have confirmed this in their audit.
Khazaradze says that the 17 million USD in question was taken by him and another founder of the bank, Badri Japaridze as a loan from Avto Tsereteli, a businessman with whom they had a friendly relationship, as the bank faced problems in 2007.
The Prosecutor's Office will address Tbilisi City Court on pre-trial measure against Khazaradze and Japaridze.
Khazaradze said that on his part Tsereteli had a separate loan of $17 million taken from the bank for his business that he could not cover, as many companies faced problems and went bankrupt due to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008.
That is why the loan was written off. We have written off 100,000 loans over the past 10 years,” Khazaradze said.
Earlier in the month Kharadze announced the creation of a civil movement, “as the government and political parties fail to combat the challenges the country faces.”
He said that the movement will be created in September.
Khazaradze is now involved in the construction process of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port, which is one of the most important projects for Georgia.
TBC Bank Founder Mamuka Khazaradze says that he has sent a letter he claimed he received from Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia and which allegedly included threats against him and TBC Bank, to London to be studied, while a copy has been handed to the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office.
Founder of the Georgian leading bank TBC Mamuka Khazaradze has announced his resignation from the bank’s supervisory council amid a row related to a money-laundering case involving him and another top banker at TBC, Badri Japaridze.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has demanded the withdrawal of the head of the supervisory council of the Georgian leading TBC bank Mamuka Khazaradze and the deputy head of the council Badri Japaridze from the council due to a money laundering case being investigated by the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
Founder of TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze has announced plans to create a new public movement in September, which will attempt to unite Georgia and preserve the country’s freedom and independence.
Top figures of the Georgian Dream ruling party say that there are no political grounds in the accusations against TBC founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, who will be charged with laundering of $16.7 million later today.
TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have officially been charged with laundering $16.7 million in 2007-2008. Khazaradze says that the charge “aims to stop the construction of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.”
The US Embassy to Georgia says that they are ‘closely following’ the developments related to the criminal charges the Georgian Chief Prosecutor General’s Office has filed against TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.
A Tbilisi City Court has set 700, 000 GEL bail each for TBC Bank co-founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze. They also have been banned from leaving the country without the consent of the prosecutors. The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office demanded one million GEL bail from each as a restraining measure.
A pretrial hearing has been held in the high-profile money-laundering case involving Georgia’s top bankers Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze and a businessman Avto Tsereteli. Both the defence and prosecution have presented their evidence in the case which concerns the possible laundering of $16 million.
The International Prosecution Advisory Panel of Georgia has provided “outside assessment” of evidence in high-profile TBC Bank case. The panel explained that the evidence presented to them by prosecution “demonstrates a scheme” by TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze “to conceal the unlawful distribution of bank funds”.
Georgian Public Defender’s Office has studied the high-profile case of alleged laundering of $16,664,000 by TBC bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze and concluded that “the case materials reveal no elements which [could be] considered money laundering.”
Independent international expert Pauline David, selected in open competition by Transparency International Georgia, says in her report released today that there is no basis to prove TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze or businessman Avtandil Tsereteli (connected with the case) committed a money laundering offence, either individually or as co-conspirators.
Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria says there is no evidence pointing at signs of money laundering in an ongoing case against TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, who were charged by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia on July 24, 2019 for laundering $16.7 million.
Lelo for Georgia political party, which was founded by co-founders of TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, has presented the party list for the October 31 parliamentary elections.
Political party Lelo has nominated Mamuka Khazaradze, the co-founder of Georgia's TBC Bank, for the premiership earlier today in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections to be held on October 31.
Founders of TBC Bank and current leaders of the Lelo opposition party Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison by Tbilisi City Court today, but due to the statute of limitations their prison time was waived.
Georgian politicians from all sides of the political spectrum have responded to yesterday’s conviction of TBC Bank and Lelo Party founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze in a case dating back to events in 2008.
The Tbilisi Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld last year’s verdict of the Tbilisi City Court against Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the founders of TBC Bank and Lelo opposition party, confirming their fraud in a case dating back to 2008.