Unlawfully seized property returned to owners
Chief Prosecutor’s Office lays charges against four ex-officials

Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods unlawfully seized by officials of the former government have been returned to their rightful owners.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia is on a path to return all unlawfully seized items to individuals who experienced serious financial loss at the hands of former state officials. 

Today the Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into several cases where four former high-ranking officials of the Interior Ministry allegedly illegally seized a variety of goods belonging to the families of inmates in Georgian prisons. 

The crimes are believed to have taken place prior to 2012, before the current Government took office. 

Firstly, former head of the Gldani-Nadzaladevi district Police Department Jaba Maghlaperidze was charged with forcing the family of inmate Iakob Nadiradze to buy a Toyota car worth $57,100 USD and transfer it into the official’s name. 

The Office alleged the former official refused to accept Nadiradze’s plea bargain after he was charged with illegal purchase and possession of drugs. 

The second case concerned an unnamed former official who was the police head of the central Vake-Saburtalo district, for an incident in October 2011 when he allegedly forced inmate Avtanmdil Mikadze to surrender his personal BMW car, worth about, $12,000 USD, in return for a plea bargain. Mikadze was also accused of illegal purchase and possession of drugs.

This case related to a third incident in Georgia’s mountainous Kazbegi region, where Vazha Gelahsvili, a former investigator of the Kazbegi Municipality police force, forced a citizen named Zaza Partladze to concede his own 1,000 sqm plot of land in nearby alpine Gudauri resort. 

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office refused to identify the fourth ex-official under investigation, citing he was acting in agreement with former head of Georgia’s Constitutional Security Department (CSD) David [Data] Akhalaia, who is currently wanted by Georgia’s law-enforcement bodies but in hiding in Greece. 

The Office claimed the police official forced prisoner Teimuraz Gavashelishvili, who was accused of a minor crime, to surrender to him two cars worth $35,000 USD and 48 items of jewellery.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office stated all the owners of the unlawfully seized property have had their property returned to them, adding that all the former officials were cooperating with the investigation and pre-trial detention had not been used against them.