UNM opposition leader confirms planned meeting with Georgia’s wanted former Defence Minister in Cyprus
Levan Khabeishvili confirmed his forthcoming meeting with David Kezerashvili. Photo: UNM press office
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Levan Khabeishvili, the head of the United National Movement opposition party, on Tuesday confirmed his forthcoming meeting with David Kezerashvili, Georgia’s wanted former Defence Minister under the UNM Government, in Cyprus.
In his press comments, Khabeishvili claimed the meeting would be facilitated as the Georgian Dream authorities, whom he called a “pro-Kremlin Government”, did not allow “people in exile to come to the country”.
Rustavi 2 TV channel on Tuesday said Khabeishvili had reportedly left for Cyprus along with fellow party members Petre Tsiskarishvili, Davit Kirkitadze and Giorgi Botkoveli.
Kezerashvili is wanted in Georgia for embezzlement of state funds during his time as the Minister between 2006-2008, with the Tbilisi Court of Appeals in March upholding the City Court verdict on the case and ordering him to pay €5,060,000 in compensation to the Ministry.
In addition, the British Broadcasting Corporation in April pointed to Kezerashvili’s alleged links with a fraudulent international scheme defrauding European citizens.
In the programme, BBC 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 the former official to be at the centre of the scheme in which fake call centre operators pretending to represent legitimate agencies offered investment opportunities to their targets in Europe while defrauding them of funds.
Kezerashvili on April 3 told the Georgian-based Formula TV channel - where he owns shares - that he was funding “pro-Western groups” in the country that requested support from him.
Georgian Vice Prime Minister Thea Tsulukiani on Monday said the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office was involved in a “large-scale” transnational investigation on a fraudulent call centre scheme that had defrauded European citizens over the years.
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”.
Georgia’s wanted former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili on Tuesday said the British Broadcasting Corporation’s investigation that alleged his links to an international fraud scheme was a product of a journalist of the Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel, whom he accused of a smear campaign for damaging his “business reputation”.
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.