President of Karate Federation accused of fraud
An investigation is in progress – the detainee faces six to nine years in prison. Photo: State Security Service.
Tweet 
Share
President of the National Karate Federation of Georgia Kakha B. has been accused of fraud by the State Security Service of Georgia.
Kakha B. submitted documentation to the Ministry of Sports and Culture according to which Georgia planned to send 10 representatives of the national team to the 9th Shotokan Karate Championship in Istanbul on April 18-22 in 2018.
The ministry sponsored the trip according to the documentation, however in total, only four athletes took part in the competition from Georgia.
Having lied to the Ministry, Kakha B. received 10,441 GEL that was allocated to send the other ‘six participants’ of the championship from Georgia.
An investigation is in progress – the detainee faces six to nine years in prison.
Later, the Karate Federation President's lawyer Levan Buadze stated that the detainee does not plead guilty.
Georgia has become the first country in the South Caucasus which signed an agreement with the EU agency Eurojust, created in 2002 to help EU member and several non-member countries cooperate more effectively to combat terrorism and serious crimes, the Georgian Justice Ministry reports.
The Georgian State Security Service has detained four individuals for fraud, who promised the head of a company to help him have sanctions against his enterprise removed and to win state tenders.
The Georgian State Security Service writes in its 2018 report that Russian forces tried to use the two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) to conduct clandestine, illegal operations.
The Georgian State Security Service and the European Union Monitoring Mission to Georgia (EUMM) have dismissed reports by a Facebook user that occupying forces have entered the Tbilisi-administered territory of the Khurvaleti village at the occupation line between Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region and the rest of Georgia and are now standing in the yards of locals.
Four people have been accused of fraud, including the misappropriation of state property, negligence and falsification of documents by the Investigative Service of Georgian Finance Ministry.
The heads of 53 different companies are being investigated for tax evasion and money laundering, the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia reports. Defendants allegedly attempted to retain 100 million GEL ($34.3m/€30.6m) in VAT and avoid transferring it to the state budget.
Georgian businesswoman Laura Ghatchava has been accused of laundering 2.16 million GEL (about $0.74/€0.66 million), the Georgian Ministry of Finance says.