Wanted former Minister enjoying free movement in EU, “financing radicalism” “deeply disturbing” - PM

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday said seeing David Kezerashvili, the country’s wanted former Defence Minister being able to enjoy free movement in the European Union member states and “funding radicalism” and “polarisation” of the Georgian political scene from abroad was “deeply disturbing and worrying”. 

Kezerashvili is wanted in Georgia for embezzlement of state funds during his time as the Defence Minister in the United National Movement Government between 2006-2008, with the Tbilisi Court of Appeals last year upholding the City Court verdict on the case and ordering him to pay €5,060,000 in compensation to the Ministry.

The same year, the British Broadcasting Corporation report said Panama Papers - the 11.5 million documents leaked in 2016 to show financial dealings of wealthy individuals and officials across the world - had shown Kezerashvili to be at the centre of a 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.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia on Thursday announced “new evidence” had been uncovered linking Kezerashvili to a “transnational fraud and money laundering scheme” involving a “criminal group” between 2019 and 2021. It said over one million dollars had been transferred to Kezerashvili and his relatives’ bank accounts during the period when European citizens were defrauded through the scam.

In his press comments in Kutaisi in western Georgia, the PM claimed while in office Kezerashvili had “robbed the army and business”, adding he was now “robbing European pensioners”. 

A number of investigations have already been conducted in this regard, including in collaboration with foreign partners, and the findings are clear. The most troubling aspect is that this individual enjoys free movement within EU countries while financing radicalism and fostering polarisation in Georgia. It is up to everyone to draw their own conclusions from this”, the PM stressed. 

In his previous comments, the top official claimed Kezerashvili had “received guarantees” in exchange for “having to spend money in favour of the collective United National Movement opposition” in the country, calling the alleged circumstance a “worrying development”.

Kobakhidze alleged the “Global War Party” - in reference to unspecified political forces in the West who allegedly seek to create a revolutionary scenario in Georgia and involve the country into opening a “second front” amid the ongoing war in Ukraine - was “allowing Kezerashvili to freely move throughout Europe”.