Parliament speaker: Suspending MP status for Japaridze shouldn’t be personal

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili says that a decision whether or not to suspend the MP status for Lelo leader Badri Japaridze, following his conviction in fraud, should not be made based on a personal sentiments to the politician and one of the founders of TBC Bank. 

Tbilisi City Court has found Japaridze and another leader of Lelo Mamuka Khazaradze guilty of fraud instead of laundering 16.7 million USD back in 2008. 

Both Khazaradze and Japaridze said that they had committed no crime and that initial and current charges were politically grounded. 

Now the parliament should decide whether or not to suspend Japaridze’s status,as Khazaradze himself requested the termination of his mandate last year in protest of ‘fabricated municipal elections.’ 

Papuashvili says that the ruling party will wait for the conclusion of parliament’s prosedural committee on Japaridze.