Head of Poti City Assembly and former mayor of the city Irakli Kakulia, two current and one former officials of the municipality, have been detained for taking a bribe, supporting the appropriation of state funds, making fake documents, misspending of state funds and abuse of authority.
The Ministry of Finance of Georgia has reported earlier today that in 2015 and 2017 Poti City Hall signed two agreements with contractor companies to renovate a coastal area.
The ministry says that the contractor companies used to write “fake, boosted figures” in official documents and take more money than needed for the work.
In total the companies took an additional 528,821 GEL [$178,000] with the use of fake documents,” the ministry says.
The ministry states that Kakulia and the other detained individuals were aware of the illegality and approved the fake documents with their signatures.
To conceal the crime Kakulia demanded 170,000 GEL [$58,000] bribe from the companies, which he received,” the ministry says.
Kakulia and three others, former deputy mayors Levan Chochia and Nikoloz Grigolia and former head of architecture department Zurab Kurua face 11 to 15 years in prison.