The Tbilisi City Court has ordered pre-trial detention for Levan Kupatashvili, former deputy head of the Road Department, along with four other detainees: Huseyn Humbatov, Robert Harlander, Telman Pashanov, and Mazakhil Abdulaiev.

The court granted detention in absentia for the four foreign nationals. The decision was made by Judge Fikria Sikturashvili.

The accused face charges including abuse of official powers, fabrication and use of false official documents, fraudulent acquisition of large amounts of money, and embezzlement using official position.

According to Prosecutor Lasha Panchulidze, detention was deemed necessary for Kupatashvili due to his financial resources, international connections, and the risk of fleeing, committing new crimes, or influencing witnesses.

The defense argued against detention, requesting a 50,000 GEL bail instead.

Levan Kupatashvili described the charges read by the prosecutor as “based on manipulation of facts.” He stated:

“There is gross manipulation of facts. I don’t want to discuss it because it has already been addressed. Regarding fleeing – the incident occurred in 2023. I was the one who first filed a complaint against this company. Who am I supposed to reconcile with or intimidate? I was the victim, and now for some reason, the prosecution thinks otherwise. As for international connections, I have no plans to leave the country. I came every time I was summoned. If you provide even a little justification, it will be appreciated.”

The next court hearing is scheduled for December 29 at 15:00.

For context, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia initiated criminal proceedings on February 21, 2023, regarding the collapse of a bridge on the Samtredia-Grigoleti highway, charging five individuals, including Kupatashvili, for abuse of official powers, falsifying official documents, embezzling large sums, and misappropriation of funds through official position.

Investigations by the Department for Combating Corruption Crimes of the General Prosecutor’s Office revealed that in 2018, a contract was signed between the Road Department under the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and the construction company Akkord for construction of an 11.5 km section of the Samtredia-Grigoleti road and associated bridge structures.

Oversight was carried out by a consortium of four international companies, with daily on-site supervision assigned to the Road Department.

During construction, none of the authorized experts from the oversight company were present in Georgia, and effective supervision was not carried out, a fact known to the Road Department.

Despite this, the absent international expert still approved falsified work completion acts prepared by the construction company, which were signed by Kupatashvili.

Based on these fraudulent documents, the absent international expert was allegedly paid 1,172,539 GEL, while the construction company fraudulently received 3,859,678 GEL for incomplete and poor-quality work, which ultimately led to the bridge collapse.

Additional restoration work cost over 12 million GEL, causing total damage to the state budget exceeding 16 million GEL, resulting in significant material loss.