Former Deputy Defense Minister Giorgi Khaindrava stated during the court hearing: “I have reviewed the content of the charges; I simply do not agree with them.”

He made this comment in response to Judge Irakli Khuskivadze’s question about whether the charges were clear to him.

At this moment, the Tbilisi City Court is holding a hearing involving Giorgi Khaindrava, former Deputy Minister of Defense; Vladimer Ghudushauri, former head of the Procurement Department at the Ministry of Defense; and Vasil Mkheidze, brother-in-law of then-Minister Juansher Burchuladze.

Today’s hearing is focused on the imposition of pre-trial detention measures for the defendants. The prosecution is requesting the strictest measure — imprisonment, while the defense is requesting bail.

Vladimer Ghudushauri is exercising his right to remain silent, while both Vasil Mkheidze and Giorgi Khaindrava deny the charges.

All three — Khaindrava, Ghudushauri, and Mkheidze — were officially charged yesterday.

Ghudushauri and Khaindrava are accused of embezzling a large sum of money, while Mkheidze is accused of aiding in the embezzlement.

According to the indictment, Khaindrava and Ghudushauri, with the help of Mkheidze, intentionally created a non-competitive environment during the procurement process for an MRI machine for the military hospital, which resulted in artificial inflation of the equipment’s price through fictitious contracts. This led to the embezzlement of 1,333,728 GEL belonging to the Ministry of Defense.

The case is being investigated under Article 182 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, specifically sections 2(a, d) and 3(b), which involve embezzlement of large sums through abuse of official position by a group acting in prior agreement, and aiding in embezzlement. The charges carry a sentence of 7 to 11 years of imprisonment.