Georgian businessman Avtandil Tsereteli has been charged as an accomplice in a money laundering case concerning the founders of TBC Bank Badri Japaridze and Mamuka Khazaradze, who were charged with laundering $16,164,000, reported agenda.ge.

"Avtandil Tsereteli is summoned to the Prosecutor General’s Office today, where charges will be formally filed against him, after which the Prosecutor’s Office will apply to City Court to use preventive measures against him. We would also like to inform the public that Khazaradze and Japaridze are summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office for the purpose of clarifying details in regards to the charges brought against them," said a representative of the Prosecutor’s Office. 

The Prosecutor Office launched an investigation into the money laundering case on 2 August 2018 relating to the developments in 2008, when LTD Samgori M and LTD Samgori Trade received a 17 million USD loan in an accelerated manner from TBC Bank without providing any real estate. The Prosecutor’s Office said that at the end of 2008, the TBC, without providing any genuine reasons, wrote off the debt of the companies and in 2012 completely freed the companies from any financial obligations to the bank. The TBC bank officials said that the loan was an “ordinary banking operation” which was checked by both the previous and current state authorities several times. Samgori M and Samgori Trade are owned by Tsereteli.

Tsereteli is also the owner of the Georgian TV station Pirveli, which is operated by his son Vakhtang Tsereteli. Avtandil Tsereteli is ready to arrive at the Prosecutor’s Office on 29 August, as soon as he returns to Georgia. “For the third year, you have been trying everything. You have tried all the ways and methods, but nothing has worked out. Now, you try to scare and blackmail me through the most important person in my life and you launched this absurd criminal case. I repeat: you can’t take TV Pirveli! We stay beyond influences – in the center of the developments. As long as I am alive, the TV Channel will not shut down and will not have its work dictated by any trend. My father – Avtandil Tsereteli supports us in this struggle,” wrote Vakhtang on 22 August on his Facebook profile.

On 24 July 2019, Khazaradze and Japaridze were officially charged for money laundering, prompting them to leave their posts at the TBC Bank and the Anaklia Development Consortium. According to Khazaradze, the arrests are aimed to stop the construction of the deep sea port in Anaklia. “No one will make me stop and the port will be built anyway. If somebody thinks that it is Khazaradze’s project, they are very mistaken, as it is a project of our children. The project is a big step towards Europe,” he said. The Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze denied this accusation, saying that it is a “cheap and irresponsible political speculation.” One of the major investors in the project had already left the consortium due to the concerns over Khazaradze’s arrest (Caucasus Watch reported).

Members of the Georgian opposition parties, the United National Movement (UNM) and European Georgia, argued that the charges against Khazaradze were politically motivated, as he declared his intent to form a civic movement (Caucasus Watch reported). The government officials on the other hand said that the charges are truly in connection with the money laundering case and that there are no political motives behind them.