Georgia’s ex‑Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze has been arrested on charges of money laundering and abuse of power, OCCRP said.
The allegations connect him to a procurement scandal involving senior officials, including his deputy, his brother‑in‑law, and the head of the Defense Department’s procurement branch.
Citing the State Security Service’s anti‑corruption agency, OCCRP said that Burchuladze is accused of laundering over 1.59 million lari (USD $590,000) through illicit or unjustified income. The scheme allegedly involved a military hospital deal for an MRI machine that was overpriced, embezzling funds from the state. Part of the illicit proceeds were allegedly used to buy property in Málaga, Spain, valued at €544,000.
Investigators also say the former minister’s wife signed a fictitious sales agreement in December 2024 to mask the origin of transferred funds, while the MRI contract itself was manipulated to inflate costs. The funds used for the Spanish property purchase were allegedly not declared in Burchuladze’s asset report as required by law.
Burchuladze, who led Georgia’s defense ministry from 2021 until earlier this year, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. He has denied wrongdoing.
His detention is part of a broader corruption probe targeting several figures implicated in inflated procurement and misuse of public contracts, reinforcing growing pressures for accountability in Georgia’s government procurement practices, according to the news outlet.
Read more at OCCRP