On 2 December, the former Prosecutor General of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili was sentenced to five years and three months in prison in absentia. Nika Melia, parliamentarian of the United National Movement (UNM) was also banned from taking public office for two years and three months in the high profile case of Cartu Bank, involving the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili, reported agenda.ge. 

Speaking to reporters, Melia described the case as “absurd,” noting that 25 people had been charged in the case of Cartu so far, however, after seven years, “the legal proceedings against them were stopped and only he was prosecuted.” He also added that Bidzina Ivanishvili sees that the vertical of his power has collapsed, and the cases against him were only aimed at getting him out of Parliament. Melia was also charged in June for inciting and heading mass violence during the 20-21 June protests (Caucasus Watch reported). 

The Cartu Bank bankruptcy case dates back to 2011 when the bank’s owner Bidzina Ivanishvili announced his intentions to enter on the Georgian political scene. The bank suddenly experienced a raft of legal troubles soon after he announced that he wanted to create a political party and challenge the former President Mikhail Saakashvili in the parliamentary election. The bank escaped bankruptcy in the end, but the case unveiled several misuses of power in Georgia.

The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs later published the details of the scheme which was supposed to drive the bank to bankruptcy. According to the ministry’s account, what happened was that in the beginning of November 2011, former Justice Minister Zurab Adeishvili called Jaba Ebanoidze, Former Head of the Revenue Service, to his office and introduced the plan to make Cartu Bank bankrupt and told him to carry it out. Jaba Ebanoidze instructed Jaba Lashkhia, chair of the audit department at the Revenue Service, and Otar Agladze, Deputy Chair of the chief department, to carry out the plan.

They in turn contacted several businessmen who were close to officials in the Saakashvili government and who had large liabilities to Cartu Bank. Among the companies were some belonging to Iago Chocheli, the governor of the Mtskheta Mtianeti region, relatives of Erekle Kodua, head of the Criminal Police Department in the Interior Ministry, as well as businesses belonging to Giorgi Isakadze, President of Georgian Small and Medium Enterprises Association.

The interior ministry claimed that each company admitted having tax debt, after agreeing with officials of the Revenue Service. The National Enforcement Bureau then held a fictitious auction purporting to be forced to sell due to tax debt, but in fact none of the properties were sold. Instead, they were transferred to the economy ministry, and following a decree by the president, they were sold through direct sale.

In the beginning of 2012, former Justice Minister Zurab Adeishvili personally instructed Economy Minister Vera Kobalia’s deputy, Davit Giorgadze, to give the properties to certain companies specified by the Revenue Service. This way he sold the properties to individuals who directly or indirectly were related to the former owners of the same properties.

According to the interior ministry, Jaba Ebanoidze, Mamuka Lashkhia, Otar Agladze, Davit Giorgadze and businessmen have been cooperating with law enforcement and provided investigators with an extensive amount of information about the illegal scheme. “The evidence and testimony in the case confirmed that high ranking officials in the former government were organized and acted [with] consent to fulfil this criminal scheme which was aimed at bankrupting and causing financial damage to Cartu Bank,” the ministry’s statement reads. “In particular, the Georgian Parliament, and the ministries of Justice, Finance and Economy, including subordinated bodies and units, were involved in the mentioned crime scheme.”

Zurab Adeisvhili did not show up to give testimony at the prosecutor’s office in the case.