Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance, within the frames of joint operation with the employees of State Security Service of Georgia, on the basis of a judge's ruling, detained Koba Gabunia, former Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, who was the curator of the Municipal Development Fund of Georgia, on the fact of abuse of official power by a state-political official.

Also, as part of the complex operations, searches were conducted at the personal and residential premises of the detainee Koba Gabunia, the former Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Irakli Karseladze and other individuals – a total of twenty different locations.

As it is already known, former Executive Director of the LEPL Municipal Development Fund of Georgia, David Tabidze, program manager of the fund and project manager of the same service were also detained with regard to the case, who fully cooperated with the investigation and were applied bail by the court as a measure of restraint.

It is also known to the public, executives of Lagi Capital LLC have been detained for the fraudulent misappropriation of GEL 9 365 801 allocated from the Municipal Development Fund for the rehabilitation of 30 kindergartens and the legalization of illegal income amounting GEL 1 211 000.

In accordance with investigation materials, the advance requests submitted to the Fund by Lagi Capital LLC from July 2023 to May 2024 were unsubstantiated and only partially secured. The named individuals, acting under the instructions of Koba Gabunia, the former Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, abused their official power and, in order to gain an advantage, despite the fact that the advance payment received by the company in July 2023 was not spent for the intended purpose, issued an unsubstantiated advance payment of GEL 11 218 380 to Lagi Capital LLC for the rehabilitation of kindergartens in 2023-2024, of which the management of Lagi Capital LLC fraudulently misappropriated GEL 9 365 801.

Investigation is underway under the first and second parts of Article 332, second and third parts of Article 180, second and third parts of Article 194 and the second part of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which envisages imprisonment from nine to twelve years.

We continue intensive operational and investigative activities with respect to this and similar categories of cases together with Prosecutor’s Office and State Security Service of Georgia, in order to expose other individuals involved in the corruption crimes, bringing criminal liability and maximum prevention of corruption.