The lawyer was detained in Georgia on suspicion of having committed a crime. The General Inspection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the lawyer stole 10 000 GEL from the man’s sister and gave the brother of the convict a promise to help him with the case.
The detention was carried out after a criminal case was established and operational activities, including covert investigative activities, were initiated. The investigators said the lawyer explained to the woman that the money was transferred for employees of the Central Criminal Police Department to go to court.
According to the ministry, the lawyer still had not finished. He told her that he will need more 100 000 GEL and convinced her to pay him in the way that the sum would be paid to the prosecutor to issue consent to the agreement to the prosecutor’s account should be paid 40 000 GEL, and the rest of the money to the state budget.
Those flagged in the scheme were not aware of it and did not in fact get any of the money, investigators said.It is the accused and the prosecutors and their details who knew nothing of the scheme and received no money, it said. The ministry describes it as a con to which the lawyer in the family was a party, and for which the family was attempting to get a light sentence.
The lady transferred the amount of 10,000 GEL expecting to help the brother. The lawyer was arrested after transferring the second amount to General Inspection Department officers under the status of the accused.
The law is addressed by part 2 of Article 180 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. He may be sentenced to up to seven years of imprisonment upon conviction.
The General Inspection Department also investigates corruption and abuse cases involving Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel. Particular focus is given to cases in which the individual pretended himself to bribe police or prosecutors, because such cases undermine confidence in the judicial system and impoverish the family of the suspect.
Plea bargaining is a process between the state and the defendant which is negotiated by the attorneys and approved by the court. An above-legal procedure by which money is asked from an investigator or prosecutor should be told to the police.
The Ministry has not disclosed the lawyer’s name and pretrial Hearing yet. Is it being investigated and there could be other charges. In criminal cases he is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
