Tbilisi Court of Appeals upholds guilty verdict against former Defence Minister
David Kezerashvili served as the head of Georgia’s Financial Police between 2004 and 2006, and then as the Defence Minister until 2008. Photo: Tabula
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The Tbilisi Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the City Court verdict of embezzlement of state funds against David Kezerashvili, the former Defence Minister of Georgia in the United National Movement Government, and ordered him to pay a €5,060,000 compensation to the Ministry.
The Court also ordered the former official, who currently holds a 51 percent stake in the opposition-minded Formula TV channel in Georgia, to pay a ₾3,000 ($1,149) fine to the state budget.
In the ruling, the Court rejected the Ministry’s claims against another defendant in the case, Aleksandre Ninua, who worked as the Head of the Procurement Department of the body, and ordered the Ministry to pay him the ₾5,000 ($1,915) appeal fee.
Kezerashvili and Ninua had been charged with abuse of office and embezzlement of large sums of state budget by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia in 2021.
The case is related to the transfer of a “large amount of money” by the Ministry for services of Girwood Business Corporation, a company registered in an offshore zone, during Kezerashvili’s time in office. The Ministry claimed it had not received the services.
The Tbilisi City Court in March 2022 fully upheld the claim of the Ministry and ordered Kezerashvili and Ninua to pay a €5,060,000 compensation to the body.
Responding to the ruling, Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said Kezerashvili had been engaged in “racketeering business, robbery of the Georgian armed forces and commission of a number of offences” while in office, adding his status of founder of the media outlet would “not serve as an escape from justice”.
He also highlighted Kezerashvili could “travel freely” throughout Europe “despite all these [crimes]”, following the 2014 and 2016 refusals by French and British courts respectively to extradite him to Georgia.
Aleko Elisashvili, the leader of the opposition Citizens party, said earlier on Tuesday Kezserashvili had “stolen millions” during his time in office, adding the former Minister had “robbed one of the most respectable institutions in Georgia”, in reference to the armed forces.
A number of criminal proceedings have been brought against Kezerashvili since the change of Government in Georgia in late 2012. In two of them, heard in Georgian courts, Kezerashvili was convicted in absentia.
Kezerashvili served as the head of Georgia’s Financial Police between 2004 and 2006, and then as the Defence Minister until 2008, before his switch to business activities.
The State Audit Office of Georgia on Tuesday said it would investigate a claim by a member of the United National Movement opposition party who said the party’s incumbent Chair Nika Melia had received a car as a gift from David Kezerashvili, the wanted former UNM Defence Minister and current owner of a commercial TV channel.
The Tbilisi City Court fully upheld a claim of the Ministry of Defence of Georgia and has ordered David Kezerashvili, the former Defence Minister of Georgia, and Alexander Ninua, the former Head of the State Procurement Department, to pay €5,060,000 compensation to the Ministry in an embezzlement case.
The Ministry of Defence of Georgia is filing a lawsuit against the former defence minister under the United National Movement (UNM) government David Kezerashvili and former head of the State Procurement Department Alexander Ninua, demanding compensation of €5 million for embezzlement, announces the Ministry of Defence.
Georgia’s former defence minister under the United National Movement (UNM) government David Kezerashvili, who holds a 51% stake in opposition-minded Formula TV, pledges he will appeal a recent verdict by the Georgian Supreme Court against him in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Archil Talakvadze, the Vice Parliament Speaker of Georgia, on Monday said the latest claims of David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Defence Minister of Georgia in the United National Movement Government, on his alleged funding of domestic opposition groups contained “signs of political corruption”.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said the new investigation by the British public broadcaster BBC had raised suspicions that David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Defence Minister of Georgia in the United National Movement Government, was a participant in the fraudulent scheme “robbing European pensioners”.
Aleko Elisashvili, the leader of the Citizens opposition party, on Wednesday said David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Defence Minister of Georgia in the United National Movement Government, had “robbed the Georgian army” before moving on to “robbing European pensioners”.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Human Rights Committee from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday accused the United National Movement opposition party of being “silent” about alleged links of the wanted former Defence Minister David Kazerashvili with a fraud scheme uncovered by the BBC on Tuesday.
Archil Talakvadze, the Vice Speaker in the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday responded to the announcement of the country’s wanted former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili of intentions to hand over half of his 51 percent share in the domestic Formula TV to the channel’s staff, by alleging the former official was “attempting to distance himself” from the media outlet after his “damaged reputation” following allegations of his participation in an international fraud scheme.
Law enforcement professionals from the Investigative Department of the Georgian Finance Ministry on Friday searched a location in central Tbilisi in the latest operation against fraudulent transnational call centre schemes.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said the country’s wanted former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili had “confirmed” he was an “oligarch” and was funding domestic opposition and TV channels with funds “stolen from European pensioners”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday hailed charity initiatives by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the former PM of the country, and his role in replacing the “brutal, dictatorial regime” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2012, in comments at the Global Security Forum in Bratislava.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday claimed the opinions of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the European Commission on the Georgian deoligarchisation bill “contradict each other”.