"I will recall the Georgian proverb that 'the fox has brought its tail as a witness.' It's perfectly fitting here, and in this case, I won't add or subtract anything," said the former head of the Co-investment Fund, Giorgi Bachiaashvili, in an exclusive interview with Interpressnews at the courthouse.

He made this statement regarding the involvement of the President of the National Bank, Natia Turnava, in the case, who is listed as a witness from the prosecution side.

Additionally, Bachiashvili provided an explanation about the conclusion from Samkharauli's forensic expertise presented by the prosecution, which concerns the recording of a conversation between Bidzina Ivanishvili and Bachiashvili.

According to Bachiashvili, the recording reveals a conversation about a loan agreement. He clarified that Samkharauli's expert analysis claims the recording is a montage, but in reality, discussing montage is unnecessary.

"Today, Samkharauli's conclusion came out, which failed to recognize my voice and Ivanishvili's voice in the conversation. This makes everything clear—this document is just laughable. They want to present it as though this recording had been subjected to editing, but they couldn't even recognize our voices. The court will soon listen to this audio recording, and I believe no expert will be needed to determine who the speakers are.

As for the actual, qualified evaluation of this recording, we sent it to Germany, and a German specialist came to examine it. We hope to have an answer soon from a real expert bureau, not Ivanishvili's office. The content of the recording is a 10-minute phone conversation between me and Bidzina Ivanishvili, where it is clear that the discussion is about a loan agreement, where I ask Ivanishvili to help me get a loan from 'Kartuli' Bank. There was no discussion about investments, and there couldn't have been. Therefore, this recording disproves all the accusations and testimonies, although Ivanishvili later gave a second testimony, after hearing and reviewing the recording, where he states that, yes, the recording is basically correct, and this is how we spoke, but maybe there was some manipulation, though he doesn't deny the content of the recording and says it represents the backstory. In other words, Ivanishvili says, yes, we agreed on the loan, he was willing to help, but later changed his mind about providing the loan, and then I, in a desperate situation, came to him and suggested that I become the investor, and that’s when I became the investor. So in the first testimony, he says one thing, but in the second testimony, he invents a new story, and it contradicts the first."

Regarding Samkharauli's forensic conclusion about the recording not being falsified, Bachiashvili said that soon, the entire public will have doubts about the conclusion, as it is clear who the speakers are in the recording.

"It is clear who the speakers are, and there is no need to be an expert to listen and understand that there is absolutely no mention of any editing; it’s just a regular phone conversation between me and Ivanishvili, which is of very good quality, and everything is understandable," said Bachiashvili.

For the record, the charge presented against Giorgi Bachiashvili relates to actions taken in 2017. According to the prosecutor's office, Bachiaashvili paid only $536,900 for the total profit received from an investor’s investment, while unlawfully appropriating the remaining 8,986 bitcoins belonging to the investor, which were worth up to $43 million at the time of their unlawful appropriation.

Giorgi Bachiashvili does not consider himself guilty of the charge.

He has been set a bail of 2.5 million GEL and additional restrictive measures have been imposed.

This action carries a sentence of imprisonment from 9 to 12 years.