The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has charged Koba Gabunia, the former Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, with abuse of official powers by a person holding a state-political position. The Prosecutor's Office itself is disseminating the statement.

According to the agency, the Prosecutor's Office will apply to the court with a motion for the appropriate preventive measure against the accused within the timeframe established by law.

"The investigation conducted by the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia established that during his tenure as Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, the Municipal Development Fund was under the direct subordination of the accused.

Starting from February 2023, the Municipal Development Fund announced tenders for the design/construction of 30 kindergartens in various municipalities of Georgia, in which LLC "Lagi Capital" was declared the winner.

The accused was aware that "Lagi Capital" was not fulfilling the works stipulated by the contracts and was demanding advance payments from the Fund without any justification. Despite this, the accused abused his official powers and gradually transferred more than GEL 11,200,000 to "Lagi Capital" in the form of advances. From the transferred amounts, the executives of "Lagi Capital" illegally appropriated GEL 9,365,000.

As a result, the kindergartens envisaged by the project were not built.

The detainee has been charged under Article 332, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (abuse of official powers by a person holding a state-political position).

The Prosecutor's Office will apply to the court with a motion for the appropriate preventive measure against the accused within the timeframe established by law.

We remind the public that criminal prosecution has already been initiated in this case against the former Executive Director of the Municipal Development Fund, two other employees of the same Fund, as well as the executives of LLC "Lagi Capital."

The investigation into the criminal case is ongoing," the Prosecutor's Office stated.