Ivanishvili’s former ally Bachiashvili flees Georgia amid allegations of persecution

Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of the Co-Investment Fund and once a close associate of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday announced his forced departure from Georgia, citing threats to his life.

Bachiashvili, who has been at odds with Ivanishvili in recent years and faced legal actions initiated by the former Prime Minister, made the revelation in a Facebook post.

“It is with great sadness and a sense of injustice that I announce my forced departure from Georgia,” Bachiashvili wrote, adding that he had received “reliable information” regarding serious threats to his security, which he claimed “could have deadly consequences in today’s Georgia.”

Bachiashvili had been banned from leaving the country since 2023, with authorities confiscating his passport. Despite these restrictions, he managed to leave Georgia, though the specifics of his departure and his current whereabouts remain unknown.

The former financier accused Ivanishvili of orchestrating a campaign of persecution against him. He alleged that he would have been “completely defenseless” in prison, where, he claims, he had already been subjected to torture by Ivanishvili’s associates.

“Leaving my homeland is not an easy choice. Despite the fact that Ivanishvili’s criminal plan was clear to me from the very beginning, I still took the risk and exposed his true face to the end,” he wrote. He further said that Georgia’s current leadership has “completely departed from the principles of law and democracy,” and that his departure was not a retreat, but “the only sane option.”