Alasania accuses Prosecutor’s Office
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, March 27
The Free Democrats (FD) leader and Georgia’s former Defense Minister Irakli Alasania accuses the Prosecutor’s Office of pressuring and kidnapping expert Avtandil Guntaishvili, who was working on the ‘cables case’ through which several officials of the Defense Ministry under Irakli Alasania were detained for misspending budgetary funds.
According to Alasania, the expert who drafted the final expert document about the case has refused to submit his report.
“As far as I know, he was forced under pressure to abandon his expert report. This is a shame for the prosecution, which has always been used as a tool of harassment and for political pressure,” Alasania stressed.
The General Secretary of the FD Alex Petriashvili, assured that the conclusion of Avtandil Guntaishvili about the cables case would change the whole case, and that is why he was forced to deny it.
The FD party demanded criminal proceedings started regarding the case.
The Prosecutor’s Office rejected the accusations and explained that the allegations towards them before the forthcoming trial were made to mislead the public and to discredit the prosecution.
They also stated that “during the investigation the defense was entitled to apply to any expert institution and no one can limit this.”
Avtandil Guntaishvili denied the information about his summons to the Prosecutor’s Office and any pressure placed on him.
“I began to work in the service of the public law, thus, based on the legislation, I have no right to provide contractual work,” the expert explained.
The so-called cable case concerned a cable system purchase from the Silknet Company during the time when Alasania was the defense minister, and five former officials of the ministry were detained and were charged for misspending budgetary funds. The former minister claims that his employees were innocent, and that there were violations in the case.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 1, 2015. The case should proceed to court on March 26, 2015.
