New facts about scandal
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, May 23
Georgia’s First Deputy Auditor General, Nino Lomjaria, says that the Mayor’s Office of Tbilisi has paid three times more compensation to Otar Partskhaladze, the ex-Prosecutor General of Georgia, who served his term in 2013.
Lomjaria says that the detailed information about the deal between Partskhaladze and City Hall will be published after the State Audit Office finishes its investigation over the case.
The Deputy Auditor General says that in 2016, Partskhaladze’s company received from the Mayor’s Office three times more compensation for a plot in Vere Gorge which was used by the state while constructing a new highway in 2012.
“The plot in the Vere Gorge, owned by the Partskhaladze Company, was rated three times more than the other plots in the nearby territory were sold,” Lomjaria noted.
She also stated that the deal raises doubts that due to the deal the state saw big loss, as in return for his land, Partskhaladze received a three times bigger state plot with real estate on it, which was not mentioned by the Mayor’s Office.
Lomjaria was responded to by Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania, who says that the plot was allocated for Partskhaladze on the basis of an 'expert's conclusion'.
“Tbilisi City Hall relied on this assessment," Narmania added.
The Chief Prosecutor`s Office of Georgia has addressed the State Audit Office and requested current inspection materials regarding lawfulness of transfer of the real estate and plots to Partskhaladze.
Moreover, Partskhaladze is involved in another case as well. Georgia’s State Audit Office Head, Lasha Tordia, who was physically assaulted around 10 days ago, says that he was attacked by Otar Partskhaladze and his security personnel in the El Centro nightclub in central Tbilisi.
The victim stressed that the assault was related to the “illegal real estate deal“ between the former Chief Prosecutor and Tbilisi Mayor’s Office over the transfer of plots of land in 2016 to Partskhaladze’s company.
Partskhaladze rejected all the charges, and his lawyers claim that Tordia’s injuries were self-inclined.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia launched an investigation under Article 126 of the Criminal Code of Georgia which criminalizes battery and other violent acts.
The Public Defender, Ucha Nanuashvili, says that he has remarks and questions over the issue.
"If there are no answers to all the questions in the nearest future, the only alternative is to study this case in another format, and one of these formats could be the Parliamentary Temporary Commission,” Nanuashvili said.
The opposition parties also share the Ombudsman’s position.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party believes that there is no need to create such a commission until the investigation is over.
“The creation of a parliamentary commission will put the investigation effectiveness under the question…we should wait for the final results of the investigation,” Koba Narchemashvili, a member of the majority, said.
