Supreme Court sentences wanted ex-defence minister Kezerashvili to 5 years in prison
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, September 9
The former Minister of Defense of Georgia under the United National Movement (UNM) government and currently the owner of 51% share of opposition-minded Formula TV was sentenced to 5 years in prison in absentia on September 7, 2021. The verdict was made by the Georgian Supreme court for embezzlement of state-owned funds in the amount of more than Euro 5 million, which should have been spent on military exercise back in 2008, during Kezerashvili’s term at office.
According to the prosecution, on January 10, 2008, Kezerashvili, issued an order to sign a contract with the company registered in the offshore zone, without any grounds and without checking the company, in order to embezzle funds in favor of a related person. He also verbally instructed a person close to him, who then served as the head of the State Procurement Department of the Ministry of Defense, A. N., to sign a contract with a company representative unconditionally, immediately, without any verification, on the same day.
This task was performed in gross violation of the requirements of the Statute of the State Procurement Department, in particular, without checking the legal value of the offered services without checking the legal entity, without the consent of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Defense and the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces. On the same day, January 10, 2008, he signed an agreement with the company on the planned combat training of the relevant units of the Ministry of Defense. The cost of the services stipulated in the contract was set at Euro5 685 000, of which Euro5 060000 were transferred to the company's account on Kezerashvili's instructions, and the company's obligation in return - to conduct military exercises - was not fulfilled at all.
According to the decision, Kezerashvili was found guilty of Article 182, Part 2, Subparagraph "d" and Article 3, Part 3, Subparagraph "b" of the Criminal Code of Georgia and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also deprived of the right to hold a position in the public service for 3 years. The sentence was halved on the basis of the Law of Georgia on Amnesty of December 29, 2012, and finally Kezerashvili was sentenced to 5 years in prison and deprived of the right to hold a position for 1 year and 6 months.
As for the former head of the Procurement Department, who was convicted in the same case and sentenced by the Tbilisi City and Appeal Courts for the crime under Article 342, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, the guilty verdict against him remained unchanged.
The Supreme Court panel of 3 members of the Supreme Court - Shalva Tadumadze, Levan Tevzadze and Merab Gabinashvili, ruled against Kezerashvili.
Recall that in 2017, the Court of Appeals acquitted Kezerashvili in his case, which was appealed by the Prosecutor's Office to the Supreme Court. Shalva Tadumadze was the Prosecutor General at that time. 5 separate proceedings were launched against him back in 2012, related to money laundering, embezzlement, corruption and abuse of authority, although he has not been convicted in any of them so far. The court acquitted Kezerashvili, among others, in the case of alienation of Imedi TV. Interpol declared a search for Kezerashvili by red notice in 2014. However, it terminated the search the next year. The GD officials said that Interpol’s decision was connected with a changed methodology, while Kezerashvili’s lawyer stated that the case was believed to be politically motivated. Georgia has requested Kezerashvili’s extradition from France and the UK twice. However, the request was declined.
Kezerashvili responded to the guilty verdict of the Supreme Court on Facebook, pledging to appeal this ‘shameful decision’ by the Supreme Court in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“The decision made by Ivanishvili's personal lawyer and former Prosecutor General in the Supreme Court is another step on his part to adjust the judiciary to its own narrow political tasks... Over the years, I have been an active supporter of any manifestation of the struggle for freedom in Georgia - be it civic activism or support for Western-based media free from government influence,” Kezerashvili wrote.
He accused PM Garibashvili of orchestrating the court process - “that is exactly him who thinks this will blackmail me or the television I support.”
Kezerashvili, who is described as one of the wealthiest former UNM officials, served as the head of Georgia’s financial police between 2004 and 2006, while between 2006 and 2008 he was the defence minister. He was one of the first UNM officials who fled the country shortly after the 2012 parliamentary elections in which the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the UNM.
