Former UNM law enforcement official Kardava sentenced to five years for embezzlement

A Tbilisi court has found former Georgian Military Police chief Megis Kardava guilty of embezzling and misappropriating GEL 768,107 in state funds by using his official position, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

The court sentenced Kardava to 11 years in prison. Under Georgia’s 2012 Amnesty Law, the sentence was reduced by half to five years and six months.

One of the cases involved GEL 330,000 allocated to the Military Police Department in May 2012 for classified expenses. Prosecutors said GEL 200,000 was subsequently converted into US dollars and that Kardava unlawfully appropriated USD 200,000.

The prosecution also said Kardava, with the assistance of other senior Defence Ministry officials, unlawfully appropriated and spent a total of GEL 768,107 between November 2011 and August 2012, allegedly under the pretext of conducting operational activities.

According to the evidence presented in court, fictitious documentation was subsequently prepared to make it appear that the money had been spent on intelligence and investigative activities by a Military Police unit deployed to Afghanistan.

Kardava was prosecuted in 10 episodes under Article 182 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, concerning the appropriation or embezzlement of property using an official position, including offences committed by a group acting by prior agreement.

Kardava has previously been convicted in several other cases. He was extradited from Ukraine to Georgia in 2021 after being detained there in 2017. In 2023, Tbilisi City Court convicted him of embezzling GEL 60,000 from the Defence Ministry and sentenced him to eight years, later reduced under the Amnesty Law to four years.