Prosecutor’s office: 140,000 GEL from state funds spent on weight loss procedure for ex-pres. Saakashvili
Saakashvili was denied to attend today’s trial hearing by the the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia due to the risks of further complication of the ex-president’s health condition, as he has been on hunger strike for 46 days. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office says that 140,000 GEL (about $44,454./€38,841) in state funds were spent on weight loss procedures in Innsbruck, Austria when Mikheil Saakashvili served as the third president of Georgia.
The former head of the Georgian Special State Protection Service Temur Janashia is also charged with the offence.
The criminal case does not concern the sums spent on official visits by the president and the activities provided for in the protocol,” prosecutor Giorgi Mujiri said following the trial hearing of embezzlement of state funds of 8.8 million GEL involving former Georgian officials.
He stated that 20 million GEL was spent legally on official events, however, noting that additionally nine million GEL was spent on the ‘leisure activities, entertainment and other expenses of the president, his family members and friends.’
Mujiri said that weight loss procedures were intended for former Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava as well.
Here we are talking about 9 million GEL spent for personal comfort,” said Mujiri.
The rest of the sum was spent on ‘vacations at various elite resorts, for the cooks, for the stylists and the gifts of their surroundings,’ Mujiri added.
Saakashvili was denied to attend today’s trial hearing by the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia due to the risks of further complications of the ex-president’s health conditions, as he has been on hunger strike for 46 days.
However, the judge stated that it can be held in the prison if Saakashvili requests.
The former president was convicted in absentia in 2018 in two cases for abuse of power. Currently, he faces several other criminal charges including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.
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