Interpresnews
The Prosecutor’s Office dropped two of four charges made on Irakli Okruashvili, Georgia’s former minister of defense. Temur Mikaberidze, head of the Department for Criminal Prosecution against the Legalization of Illegal Revenues released a statement regarding the decision at a January 8 briefing.
Mikaberidze said that Okruashvili was accused of granting privileges to building companies International Building Company and Priza during his term as minister of defense in the form of signed agreements regarding the implementation of various construction activities. According to the accusation, the companies implemented works amounting to several million lari. Several hundreds thousand lari were misappropriated.
Mikaberidze added that Irakli Okruashvili was further accused of abusing his professional power by granting privileges to Transport Development Ltd, with whom he had signed an agreement to supply the ministry with 4000 tons of fuel. In this case, the price paid for the fuel was higher than the average price of fuel at the time; the state lost 205500 USD as a result. He and others were also accused of having paid1800000 USD for a space on Atoneli street in 2007; in doing so, he managed to register the space as a legal property.
According to Mikaberidze, the investigation concluded that both agreements with the Ministry of Defense were signed by sought Iason Chikhladze, who was the head of the Ministry’s Procurement Department. There is no evidence against Okruashvili in either of the aforementioned cases.
Mikaberidze said that the court is still discussing three additional cases against Okruashvili. The Tbilisi Appeals Court is currently addressing one involving bribery.
Mikaberidze said of the case, “Society has information about this episode and it is known as an illegal misappropriation of GeoCell assets. Former Chairman of the National Commission on Communication Regulation Dimitry Kitoshvili was the only witness in this case; however, he now denies his initial testimony. Dimitry Kitoshvili claimed that he was compelled to make testimony against Irakli Okruashvili. The Appeal Court has almost finished discussion of this case, and there is no other evidence against the former defense minister, so the prosecutor’s office intends to cancel this accusation as well.”
Okruashvili is also accused of creating an illegal armed formation and of professional negligence. Mikaberidze explained that the Chief Prosecutor’s Office is carefully studying these cases and will soon provide the public with concrete information about the ongoing process.
Mikaberidze added that on January 4, the court passed an illegal judgment on Orkuashvili’s case.
“The Prosecutor’s Office is on the accusing side and only it has the right to request preventive measures for the detainee. Imprisonment is the gravest preventive measure and bail is the slightest. The court does not have the right to impose graver sanctions on the detainee than the Prosecutor’s Office has requested. We requested to commute Okruashvili’s imprisonment to bail and the court did not satisfy our solicitation, without explanation. Thus, we believe it was a politically motivated decision and Irakli Okruashvili has become a personal prisoner of the judiciary,” said Mikaberidze.
Thus, on January 10, the Prosecutor’s Office intends to decline the accusation against Irakli Okruashvili in the case discussed by the Appeals Court and as a result the Court will absolve him.
“We hope this trial will in fact take place on January 10 and will not be postponed for unknown motives,” said Mikaberidze.
“It is unclear why Irakli Okruashvili’s freedom threatens the opposition,” Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani said at the briefing on January 8, and added that there are many fabricated accusations against Okruashvili. The Minister said that she does not think Irakli Okruashvili is an angel but that some accusations against him were invented by the previous government. Therefore, Tsulukiani noted, it became a reason for the Prosecutor’s Office to drop some of the cases against him.
As for the ongoing process, Tsulukiani said, “Kublashvili’s Court” is making decisions based on politics instead of justice.
“When an accused person arrives in the country based on his own wishes, preventive measures against him shall be cancelled, though the Georgian court did not use this instrument in Okruashvili’s case. Apparently, “Kublashvili’s Court” still continues its political game instead of acting in accordance to the law. I cannot understand why our opposition is afraid of Okruashvili’s freedom,” Thea Tsulukiani said.
She also said that Okruashvili is not mentioned in the law on amnesty which is pending before the President.
“Okruashvili was not mentioned in the law, which is pending before our backward president, who does not know how to sign it. Apparently, he prefers to free those criminals who will return back to prison,” said Thea Tsulukiani.
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