Lawyers representing presidential hopeful Badri Patarkatsishvili claim the government is targeting the business mogul’s assets, after the state took control of a bank he has interests in.

On Tuesday, the National Bank of Georgia announced that a temporary administration has been controlling Standard Bank—a company that Patarkatsishvili has “indirect interests” in, according to his lawyers—since November 24, citing concerns that it is unstable.

Giorgi Kadagidze, head of the temporary administration, said that customers had withdrawn more than GEL 40 million from Standard Bank over the past two weeks, prompting concerns from the National Bank that it was in danger of going into liquidation.

“The National Bank’s goal is to defend all depositors’ interests. That’s why this decision [to appoint a temporary administration] was made,” Kadagidze said.

However, officials from Salford Capital, the investment fund that manages Patarkatsishvili’s investments in Georgia and has a majority stake in Standard Bank, claim the move was politically motivated. They say the government is pressuring the bank’s customers to withdraw their capital.

“We strongly believe that Standard Bank customers have been under pressure since November 8 to withdraw their funds from the bank,” Irakli Rukhadze, a Salford chief executive, said at a press conference on November 27.

He added that state agencies had withdrawn their funds from the bank over the same period.

Kadagidze also said that the bank would remain under the control of the temporary administration until at least January 24, adding there was now no question of the bank’s liquidation.

Patarkatsishvili is wanted for questioning about his role in an alleged coup attempt on November 7, when the capital fell into crisis as the government violently dispersed protestors on Rustaveli Avenue.

Imedi TV, a media outlet founded by Patarkatsishvili, had its license suspended for three months after authorities claimed it aired statements encouraging the violent overthrow of the government the same day.

Also on November 7, Tbilisi City Hall seized an amusement park in Tbilisi owned by Lynx, Ltd., another of Patarkatsishvili’s companies, claiming the terms of the lease contract had been violated.

Patarkatsishvili is currently based in London, but will return to Georgia after he is granted official candidate status for the January 5 presidential elections, according to Giorgi Zhvania, who presented the businessman’s application documents to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Monday.

On November 28, CEC chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili listed Patarkatsishvili as one of the presidential hopefuls whose documentation contained errors. The chairman said Patarkatsishvili had failed to name his official representative in Georgia.