Georgian law enforcement search Tbilisi location in operation against fraudulent call centres
The Investigative Department of the Georgian Finance Ministry on Friday searched a location in central Tbilisi in the latest operation against transnational call centre schemes. Photo: RFE/RL
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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.
The Ministry said the investigators had received a tip-off on the alleged enterprise used for the purpose of offering fake financial opportunities to their targets. They seized computers and other equipment in offices on Agmashenebeli Avenue before sealing the facility, domestic media outlets reported.
Media reports said the building was owned by the brother of the opposition politician Giorgi Vashadze and was also connected with David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian lawmaker of Georgian origin.
In his comments to the press on Friday, Vashadze confirmed he owned shares in a hotel located in the building searched by police, but rejected claims on his alleged connection with the call centre operation in the venue.
The law enforcement raid is the latest in a number of efforts made in Georgia against the fraudulent call centre schemes that have been revealed to have defrauded European citizens over the recent years by offering them investment opportunities before appropriating their funds.
A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation last month said the Panama Papers - the 11.5 million documents leaked in 2016 to show financial dealings of wealthy individuals and officials across the world - had shown Georgia’s wanted former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili to be at the centre of a fraudulent scheme involving call centres over the recent years.
Kezerashvili rejected allegations and pledged to sue the BBC to restore his “damaged reputation” following its investigative piece.
Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Friday said "all relevant state agencies" had been involved to prevent the functioning of such call-centres in the country, before rejecting the claims by several domestic opposition groups that the current Government was backing the schemes. “If we are backing them, then why are we taking [all] steps to expose and close them?”, asked the official in his press comments.
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.
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.
The British public broadcaster BBC on Wednesday revealed its investigation into a fraudulent “call centre” scheme involving David Kezerashvili, a wanted former Defence Minister of Georgia in the United National Movement Government, in a report that detailed a global network of a scam operation targeting customers.
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 Prosecutor's Office of Georgia on Friday said it had solved two transnational crime cases, with one targeting citizens of the United States from Georgia and the other involving a foreign citizen defrauding French-based enterprises from the country.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia on Thursday said it was carrying out investigative and procedural actions at several locations in the capital city of Tbilisi as part of the international investigation against transnational crime involving fraudulent call centre services.
The Tbilisi City Court sentenced an Albanian national to a three-month extradition detention for his involvement in a “call centre” scam scheme that defrauded German citizens, following a request by the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office.