Ivanishvili’s ex-financer Bachiashvili claims he was kidnapped, illegally returned to Georgia

Giorgi Bachiashvili, a former head of Georgia’s Co-Investment Fund and a central figure in the so-called Bitcoin case involving Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has alleged in court that he was kidnapped abroad and forcibly returned to Georgia on the orders of Ivanishvili.

Speaking at a hearing related to a separate case - the Mtkvari HPP project on Thursday - Bachiashvili told the court he was blindfolded for two days before being flown back to Tbilisi aboard an Airzena aircraft, without any formal extradition process or contact with legal counsel.

“On May 24, I was kidnapped outside the country, blindfolded, and held for 48 hours,” Bachiashvili said. “Without any legal procedure, I was brought back to Georgia in violation of international and local laws. Today, I am Ivanishvili’s personal prisoner.”

He accused the Georgian government, which he referred to as a “criminal group”, of orchestrating what he called an “international crime” to bypass normal extradition channels. He also claimed that the Interpol Red Notice previously issued against him had been suspended, rendering any legal extradition unfeasible.

The State Security Service of Georgia issued a statement on May 27 saying that Bachiashvili was detained near the so-called Green Border between the Tsiteli Khidi and Sadakhlo, following an anonymous tip received the day prior. The agency has not addressed Bachiashvili’s claims directly but confirmed that an investigation was underway.

Prosecutor Mikheil Sadradze declined to comment in detail, citing the ongoing inquiry led by the State Security Service.

Bachiashvili’s international legal team has described his return to Georgia as “forced” and “unlawful.” In a statement released in Washington, the lawyers warned that he could face torture and mistreatment in custody, and pledged to pursue international legal avenues to hold the Georgian government accountable.

The controversy surrounding Bachiashvili escalated further after The Guardian published an interview with him just hours before his arrest was made public. In the interview, Bachiashvili, speaking from an undisclosed location, claimed that intelligence services from two unnamed countries had warned him of an assassination plot.

“[One country’s] intelligence services said they didn’t just see the risk - they knew an order had been issued to kill me,” he told the newspaper.

He also speculated that while the threats against his life might be intended to implicate Ivanishvili, the motive could be to damage the oligarch’s standing with Western governments, particularly the United States.

Bachiashvili has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzling a significant amount of cryptocurrency in March.

The Tbilisi City Court found Bachiashvili guilty of misappropriating 8,986 Bitcoins - valued at approximately $43 million at the time - from a joint investment venture with Ivanishvili. The court also convicted him of money laundering related to the misappropriated funds.

The case centers on a 2015 Bitcoin mining project financed by a $5 million loan from Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank. While Bachiashvili returned the initial investment and a portion of the profits, prosecutors alleged he withheld the majority of the mined cryptocurrency.

Bachiashvili, who fled Georgia in March 2025, claimed the charges were politically motivated due to his criticism of Ivanishvili's pro-Russian stance.