Prosecutors arrest ex-Security Chief’s ‘associate’, seize $1.3 mln

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia has arrested Koba Khundadze, described as an associate of former State Security Service chief Grigol Liluashvili, on charges related to the legalization of illicit assets.

According to Prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri, investigators seized $1,319,300 in cash, divided into 94 envelopes, from Khundadze’s residence.

“The investigation determined that the defendant devised a multi-stage criminal scheme to give a lawful appearance to particularly large amounts of unexplained assets,” Tsiklauri said at a press briefing.
“Using funds of unverified origin, he purchased land plots in Tbilisi and invested the money in his own company as well as in cooperatives he helped establish. Through repeated real estate transactions, he integrated the illicit funds into legitimate economic circulation, concealing their true nature, source, and ownership.”

The Prosecutor’s Office added that searches were carried out at 11 additional locations as part of the ongoing investigation into corruption and money laundering.

In a related case, authorities said they had seized $2,904,900 in cash from bank safe boxes belonging to Mikheil Chokheli, an associate of former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze, and his family members.