Georgian Police Detain 7 Senior Officials

Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) reports that Ajara Prosecutor's Office detained members of Ajara government and former and acting high-ranking officials of the Batumi Municipality City Hall on the basis of the court decision.

In the statement released on Thursday, the POG says the detainees are accused of misappropriation of the state funds and abuse of power.

The current and former officials who were arrested are: Former Batumi Mayor G.E., Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sports B.M., Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy A.V., Batumi Vice-Mayor T.P., Head of Municipal Property and Services Management Service of Batumi City Hall, Deputy Head of the City Infrastructure and Improvement Division of Batumi City Hall and Head of the Procurement Division of Batumi City Hall.

The POG says an investigation has established that upon the decision of the above-mentioned persons, who were members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall and held various positions in Batumi City Hall, on October 09, 2015, Batumi City Hall announced the electronic tender on the construction of so-called "cheap houses." According to the tender conditions, the facility should have been constructed using lightweight stainless steel constructions.

“Before the announcement of the tender, the members of the Tender Commission were informed that there was just one company, which had the experienced of building facilities using lightweight stainless steel constructions,” the statement says, adding after this Batumi City Hall announced a tender based on the design and building cost estimations, prepared by Convert Georgia ltd, which provided them with free of charge.

The agency stated that during the electronic tender, the branch of foreign company Convert Georgia submitted fake documents to the unified electronic system of state procurement.

“The members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall did not discuss the submitted documents, while the same documents, submitted by Convert Georgia for the same e-tender announced by Batumi City Hall on May 1, 2015, led to the company’s disqualification,” the statement reads.

The Prosecutor’s Office says that despite the fact the submitted documents were not in line with the tender conditions, the members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall did not disqualify the branch of foreign company Convert Georgia, announced it as a winner and signed GEL 4,279,990 worth contract with the company.

The agency stressed this step led to the embezzlement of GEL 1,370,076 of state money.

By Thea Morrison