Tbilisi, Georgia: Tbilisi City Court Judge Giorgi Gelashvili has sentenced Giorgi Bachiashvili, former head of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s co-investment fund, to 11 years in prison on March 10, 2025.
It should be noted that the Tbilisi City Court fully shared the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office and found Giorgi Bachiashvili guilty of large quantities of cryptocurrencies and legalization of illegal income.
According to the evidence presented at the court process, it was confirmed that in the summer of 2015, the defendant invested in mining/cryptocurrency – bitcoin with money mobilized by him and transferred by the investor.
The Bitcoin mining service was provided by a foreign company, based on a 1-year contract concluded in July 2015 with an enterprise owned by the defendant. The value of the contract was determined at 6,305,000 USD, of which the investor’s amount was 5,000,000 USD, and the defendant’s – 1,305,000 USD.
According to the agreement, the defendant was instructed to ensure the technical implementation of the investment of the funds, and the expected profit was to be distributed between the parties in proportion to the invested funds.
Also, according to the agreement, the cryptocurrency generated as a result of the investment was to be accumulated in the crypto wallet belonging to the enterprise located in the defendant’s district administration.
After various investigations, criminal prosecution against the accused was initiated under Article 182, Part Three, Subparagraph “c” (illegal appropriation of cryptocurrency in a large amount) and Article 194, Part Three, Subparagraph “c” (legalization of illegal income) of the Criminal Code.
The court found the defendant fully guilty of the charges and sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
It is noteworthy that criminal prosecution is underway against the defendant in two other cases –
- for failure to perform official duties during the implementation of the Mtkvari HPP project
- for illegally crossing the Georgian state border.
The investigation is also ongoing into the case of embezzlement of funds during the implementation of the Mtkvari HPP project.
