UNM Parliament member may face criminal charges

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has sent a proposal to the Georgian Parliament to approve criminal proceedings against United National Movement member and Member of Parliament (MP) Roland Akhalaia.

The charges are connected with alleged abuse of power when Akhalaia was the Regional Prosecutor of Samegrelo – Zemo Svaneti.

As an MP, Akhalaia is protected with immunity until Parliament decides otherwise.

Today, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office requested Parliament to allow the Office to begin criminal proceedings against Akhalaia.

A statement released by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office said in December 2009, Akhalaia demanded from Georgian citizen Marina Esebua to transfer 150,000 GEL into the nonexistent bank account of "Anaklia Development Fund” as a plea agreement for her husband, who was detained.

The money was allegedly intended to be donated to charity, however, it was transferred to the bank account of SANI Ltd – a private company belonging to Seriozha Gvaramia, who was closely connected to Akhalaia.

"As mentioned above, Roland Akhalaia acted with personal interest and obviously exceeded his official authority in the capacity of the Regional Prosecutor,” read the statement.

The Office said the 150,000 GEL deposited by Esebua was entirely used for commercial purposes of SANI Ltd.

Using the same method of deceit, in December 2009 Akhalaia illegally demanded 60,000 GEL from the families of other people who had been accused of crimes and were being detained. Again, the sum was transferred into the account of SANI Ltd and used for commercial purposes, the Office claimed.

Akhalaia evaluated the Prosecution’s allegations and denied all accusations against him.

"This is a provocation of the head of Zugdidi Investigative Service, who is a close friend of Partskhaladze [Georgia’s ex-Chief Prosecutor],” he said.

Akhalaia, who is a member of UNM, is the father of the country’ts ex-Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia, who is currently detained, and ex-police high official Data Akhalaia, who was convicted today on charges relating to torture and abuse of power.