Trial of TBC Bank Co-founders, Businessman Avtandil Tsereteli Underway at City Court

The trial of the co-founders of JSC TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, accused of money laundering, and of businessman Avtandil Tsereteli, is underway at the Tbilisi City Court.  

Khazaradze and Japaridze have pleaded innocent and call the accusation "completely absurd and unacceptable".

"I could not even understand what I was accused of, of course, I do not admit it," said Tsereteli.

The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia launched an investigation into money laundering by the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TBC Bank on 2 August 2018.

Their bank accounts were seized in August. The Prosecutor's Office applied to court with the relevant motion, having officially charged the founders of JSC TBC Bank in July. The two are accused of laundering a total sum of $16,754.000.

The pair paid the bail ordered on them by Tbilisi City Court, 700,000 GEL each, on July 26.

Georgian businessman Avtandil Tsereteli, the father of the founder of TV Pirveli Broadcaster, Vakhtang Tsereteli, was charged as an accomplice in the money laundering casethe founders of TBC Bank. 

The Tbilisi City Court upheld the motion of the Prosecutors’ Office of Georgia and ordered 50,000 GEL bail from him in August. He paid the fine on September 10. 

By Ana Dumbadze 

Related Story: Court Starts Hearing Khazaradze-Japaridze Case