Georgia’s Parliament Speaker: EU handing over wanted former Minister would “dispel suspicion” on it backing “radical opposition”

Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said handover of David Kezerashvili, the country’s wanted former Defence Minister, by the European Union to Tbilisi would “dispel suspicions” the former official enjoyed “certain guarantees of freedom in exchange” for funding domestic “radical groups”. 

Papuashvili’s social media post came following the latest comments by Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, which last week said over one million dollars had been transferred to bank accounts of Kezerashvili and his immediate relatives by a suspect involved in a “call centre” scam. 

This scheme defrauded German, Slovenian and Slovak nationals of €3.17 million between 2019 and 2021, it said, adding the body had arrested four individuals and charged them with fraud and money laundering as part of an organised group following the Office’s collaboration with domestic and German law enforcement authorities. Two other individuals and one legal entity have also been indicted in absentia.

In his post, the Parliament Speaker stressed “what BBC reported [last year], is now confirmed by bank transfers, that it is Mr Offshore, as BBC called him, who is the mastermind of the illegal offshore business”, and added the “criminal origins of this money is only one part of the story”. 

What is important for Georgian democracy is that Kezerashvili himself admitted openly before to owning an opposition TV company in Georgia and also to exercising a firm political and financial control over the opposition United National Movement party”, Papuashvili said. 

Claiming the UNM’s “illegal funding” was “an open secret” for Georgia’s foreign partners, as well as the former official’s conviction of embezzlement of state funds in absentia, the Parliament Speaker stressed the “true paradox” of the story was “despite his crimes, now confirmed by European investigative services, Kezerashvili continues to enjoy free movement throughout the EU and the UK, and is the leading donor for the radical agenda of Georgia’s radical politicians and media”. 

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

Papuashvili claimed the development “raises question marks” in Georgia about the former Defence Minister under the UNM Government “enjoys certain guarantees of freedom in exchange for funding these radical groups in Georgia”.