Court has ordered pre-trial detention for the Georgian Dream deputy of the Vani City Council, Bichiko Paikidze, who is in hiding, in another case, in which he is accused of intentionally evading taxes in a particularly large amount.

The head of one of the companies, a Turkish citizen, who was arrested on the same charges, was also sent to pre-trial detention.

The decision was made by Judge Pikria Sikturashvili of the Tbilisi City Court.

According to lawyer Irma Chkadua, the crime concerns incorrectly filling out tax declarations in 2010-2012. According to her, this "charge is embarrassing to talk about and it is an embarrassing coincidence, because at that time the National Movement regime was raging, they were arresting everyone, and if this type of crime had occurred, Paikidze would have been arrested."

According to the prosecutor's office, the defendants intentionally avoided paying a particularly large amount of taxes to the state budget.

More specifically, in the process of carrying out their activities and while receiving millions of laris from budgetary organizations, the defendants systematically misdeclared the amounts payable to the budget, thereby intentionally avoiding paying a particularly large amount of taxes to the state budget.

The defendants were charged under Article 218, Part 2, Subparagraph "b" of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years.