The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has charged two individuals with fraudulent appropriation of a large sum of money by a group of persons acting in prior agreement, legalization of illegal income, and the creation of a forged official document

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has charged two individuals with fraudulent appropriation of a large sum of money by a group of persons acting in prior agreement, legalization of illegal income, and the creation/use of a forged official document.. This was reported in a statement released by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

According to a statement issued by the Prosecutor’s Office, the charges also involve the use of forged official documents.

“According to an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, since February 2023, the Municipal Development Fund of Georgia announced tenders for the design and construction of kindergartens in the municipalities of Chokhatauri, Ozurgeti, Mtskheta, Ninotsminda, Dedoplistskaro, Gori, and Batumi.

To win the announced tenders, the accused created and submitted a forged auditor’s report on the company’s work experience along with other required documentation.

After winning the tenders, the accused prematurely requested and received advance payments from the Municipal Development Fund, allegedly to start construction work on the kindergartens, even though in most cases the construction projects had not yet been approved. As a result, under the pretext of project and construction work, members of the criminal group fraudulently appropriated 9,365,000 lari from the Fund, while the construction work stipulated by the contracts was not carried out.

In order to give a legal appearance to the fraudulently obtained funds, the accused transferred 1,211,000 lari to a bank account of another company owned by them, allegedly as an advance payment for services to be provided, after which the funds were used for various purposes, including loan repayment. Thus, they legalized and integrated into the financial system a particularly large sum of money obtained through criminal activity.”