A previous assistant to one of Georgia’s most influential figures has left the country while facing trial for allegedly embezzling over $700 million in cryptocurrency, claiming the charges are politically motivated.
Giorgi Bachiashvili refuted the allegations of swindling Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister regarded as the actual leader of Georgia, asserting that the claims against him stem from revenge for opposing his former boss’s viewpoint on the Ukraine conflict.
The interior ministry of Georgia stated in a press release on Wednesday that Bachiashvili had exited the country through its land border with Armenia, “skirting the official border checkpoint by using a specially designed concealment in a vehicle.”
According to Georgia’s TV Pirveli, he has since traveled to a third country. When reached by Reuters earlier this week, Bachiashvili did not disclose his current location.
Georgian officials announced that Bachiashvili faces charges for illegally crossing the border. Media outlets reported Shalva Papuashvili, the chairman of parliament and a close associate of Ivanishvili, as stating that the flight of the accused confirmed his “criminality” and that he would ultimately serve time in prison.
If convicted of embezzling more than 8,000 bitcoin from Ivanishvili, Bachiashvili could face up to a dozen years in prison. He claimed that he fled after receiving threats regarding potential harm in jail.
On Facebook, he characterized his trial as “a grotesque performance.”
The allegations of embezzlement pertain to a 2015 loan from Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank that Bachiashvili sought to create a cryptocurrency mining enterprise.
Bachiashvili has expressed that the charges are designed to punish him for his break with Ivanishvili by openly supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
Ivanishvili, who is believed to control the ruling Georgian Dream party that he founded, has shifted traditionally pro-Western Georgia towards a more pro-Russian stance since the onset of the war, while suppressing opposition domestically.
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In December, he faced sanctions from the United States due to a crackdown on protesters against the Georgian government’s postponement of European Union accession talks until 2028.
The billionaire is seldom seen in public and has not publicly addressed his former aide’s departure.
