Former Georgian president, top police officials may face charges for plotting to murder billionaire Patarkatsishvili

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and former head of the Constitutional Security  Department (CSD) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia David Akhalaia may face charges for plotting to murder billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, as Tbilisi Forensic Bureau says that  the recording in which former officials of the CSD speak about how to kill Patarkatsihsvili is authentic.

The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that voices in the recording have been identified and the recording itself will be sent to Scotland Yard for additional verification, as Patarkatsishvili was found dead in his Surrey mansion in England on 12 February 2008, with no signs of murder.  

The Prosecutor’s Office states one of the voices which has been identified belongs to former CSD official Giorgi Dgebuadze, who has already been sentenced for a murder case dating back to 2006.

In the recording Dgebuadze speaks with one of the bodyguards of Patarkatsishvili, who has also been identified.

Dgebuadze and the bodyguard discuss options of how Patarkatsishvili, who backed the opposition against Saakashvili, might be killed.

One of the scenarios concerned poisoning.

Voices in the recording say that the murder is “sanctioned by Saakashvili” and all the details are agreed with Akhalaia, whose department was supervised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Merabishvili.

The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office announced on 17 October that they seized recordings in 2016 which prove that the previous, United National Movement leadership was plotting to kill Patarkatsishvili.

The office said that the investigation regarding the recording had been carried out for two years.

Former official of the Constitutional Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the United National Movement government G.M. has been detained, while two other former top figures of the same agency L.K. and R.Sh have been charged for plotting homicice and abuse of authority.

Read more about Patarkatsishvili here.