Ex-investment fund chief Bachiashvili sentenced to 4.5 years over illegal border crossing

Giorgi Bachiaashvili, former head of Georgia’s Co-Investment Fund, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for illegal border crossing.

The verdict was delivered by Judge Jvebe Nachkvia on Tuesday. Shota Kharumidze, who helped Bachiaashvili cross into Armenia, received the same sentence.

Bachiaashvili left Georgia on 4 March before a court could sentence him to 11 years in prison in a separate case concerning alleged misappropriation of cryptocurrency linked to billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and its honorary chair Bidzina Ivanishvili.