“No one can accuse Bidzina of corruption; he hasn’t stolen anything himself, others stole, and he takes from them, a kind of Arsen Odzelashvili. His well-being has been seriously damaged and needs to be replenished,” said political analyst Gia Khukhashvili on PalitraNews’ program “Political Space.” According to him, “Georgian Dream” is conducting an operation aimed at seizing property acquired corruptly by former or current officials.

“Bidzina Ivanishvili has personally faced problems. His well-being has been seriously damaged, and this has accelerated the process. The damage to his well-being sped things up, and all of this needs to be replenished. He started shearing his own sheep, and to carry out this operation, he had a carefully preserved group—Kobakhidze’s group—who were less implicated in corruption. Through their hands, the hands of trained puppies, this process began. He himself stays out of sight, as if he has nothing to do with it.

There’s a Georgian saying—‘the thief of a thief is saved.’ No one can accuse Bidzina of corruption; he hasn’t stolen anything himself, others stole, and he takes from them, a kind of Arsen Odzelashvili. He’ll then channel some of it into charity and tell us that he took from the rich and gave to the poor. He’ll allocate 5-10% to social projects.

This is a purely criminal operation. In this process, they negotiate with some people, and they bring money. There are cases where they demand more than someone can provide. Recall Rijebi’s ‘case’—they demanded more than he could give, practically driving the man to suicide. Negotiations are ongoing with some people even now. There are many signs of negotiations with Kaladze,” Khukhashvili stated.

According to Gia Khukhashvili, it is vital for the capital’s mayor, Kakha Kaladze, to remain in office, otherwise, he risks being arrested for corruption.

“For Kakha Kaladze, it’s vital to remain Tbilisi’s mayor. I’m sure he wants to leave; he doesn’t need the mayoral position at all, he’s already very satisfied with what he has. But he understands that the only thing granting him immunity is staying mayor. In any other scenario, he faces a very grim fate. It seems they’ve set some conditions for him. At the same time, he saw one person get arrested, then another, then a third, while statements were made like, ‘Maybe we won’t nominate you, we’ll nominate someone else.’ He thinks if someone else is nominated for Tbilisi mayor, he’ll be arrested, so he gave in. This is a purely mafia-like, criminal situation within the system—criminal, hush-hush dealings, ‘bring this much, bring that much,’” Khukhashvili stated.