Owner of B.P. Trans from ruling party, five others sent to pre-trial detention over multi-million fraud

Georgian authorities have placed the owner of B.P. Trans, Bichiko Paikidze - a ruling Georgian Dream party deputy in the Vani Municipal Assembly - and five others under pre-trial detention, the court has ruled. Paikidze is currently outside Georgia.

The decision was made by Judge Arsen Kalatozishvili of the Tbilisi City Court on Friday.

According to the prosecution, between June 2021 and September 2022, Paikidze, with the assistance of the other suspects, fraudulently obtained 4,184,249 lari belonging to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure.

Paikidze faces up to nine years in prison, while the company director, Valerian Kvaratskhelia, and four employees - Ioseb Chanchaleishvili, Roin Popkhadze, Giorgi Kvakhadze, and Irakli Galogre - face six to nine years.