Nine including state official charged with fraudulent appropriation of state property

The investigation service of the ministry of finance of Georgia has charged nine individuals, including two former and one current state officials, with fraudulent appropriation of state-owned land.

The state body said on Friday the individuals had fraudulently registered 11 state-owned land plots with an area of 17,650 square metres in western Georgia’s Imereti region in 2017.

It noted the registrations had been made on the basis of false acceptance acts of land plots issued within the state land reform process.

The service added procedures were being carried out to return the illegally acquired land plots to state ownership, while the group is set to face between four and seven years of imprisonment.