Both prosecution, Lelo leaders to appeal court verdict

Lelo leaders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, as well as the prosecution say that they will appeal the verdict of Tbilisi City Court delivered today which found the politicians, founders of TBC Bank of fraud after requalifying money laundering charge. 

Khazaradze said after the trial that the case was ‘politically motivated’ and aimed to undermine the construction of Anaklia deep sea port in western Georgia in which TBC Bank was involved. 

He said that the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili was interested in the suspension of the project ‘which was disliked by Russia.’ 

Khazaradze said that the Georgian people will not bear the biased court and that the verdict will be appealed as ‘no offense took place and it is an issue of dignity.’ 

The ruling Georgian Dream party MPs say that the court judgment has proved that ‘no political persecution took place,’ and that Khazaradze and Japaridze committed a crime. 

The prosecution claimed that Khazaradze and Japaridze laundered 16.7 million USD back in 2008. 

Tbilisi City Court has sentenced both to seven years in prison for fraud committed by a group.

However, due to the statute of limitations, they were released from the sentence.

Both Khazaradze and Japaridze had stated many times that ‘no laundering’ took place back in 2008, and that they were charged as Ivanishvili wanted to hamper the building of Anaklia deep sea port in western Georgia. 

Khazaradze says that the building of the port aimed to strengthen Georgia’s geopolitical role and was against Russian interests. 

He and Japaridze were officially charged in the case in the summer of 2019 and only after they decided to enter politics.