The Prosecutor’s Office released information stating that it will request detention as a preventive measure for Burchuladze.
“An investigation conducted by the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service established that in 2023, the then-Minister of Defense of Georgia abused his official authority to secure illicit gains for himself and his relative. Specifically, under his instructions, the then-Deputy Minister of Defense and the former head of the Procurement Department of the Ministry of Defense, with the assistance of a relative of the former Defense Minister, deliberately created a non-competitive environment during the procurement process for a medical device for a military hospital. As a result, through fictitious transactions, the cost of the device was inflated, and a device worth 2,606,272 GEL was supplied to the Ministry of Defense for 3,940,000 GEL. These criminal actions caused property damage of 1,333,728 GEL to the Ministry of Defense.
To conceal and disguise the origin of a particularly large amount of illegal and unjustified income, the former Defense Minister took the following actions to give it a legal appearance:
In January 2025, he and his spouse purchased a plot of land with a house in Spain for 544,000 EUR. Since the legal origin of this amount could not be substantiated, to conceal its source, a fictitious purchase agreement for real estate in Tsqneti was concluded in 2024 between the former Defense Minister’s spouse and a third party. In reality, the former Defense Minister’s family did not sell this property, and the agreement’s sole purpose was to disguise the origin of the funds transferred to Spain.
Furthermore, to conceal the illegal origin of the 544,000 EUR, the former Defense Minister failed to declare the property acquired in Spain in the asset declaration of a public official in March 2025, thereby legalizing illegal and unjustified income amounting to 1,593,212 GEL.
The detainee was charged under subparagraph ‘c’ of the third part of Article 194 and the second part of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (for abuse of official authority by a state-political official and legalization of illegal income), which carries a penalty of up to 12 years of imprisonment.
The prosecution will request the court to impose detention as a preventive measure for the accused within the legally stipulated period.
The investigation into the criminal case continues at the State Security Service,” the statement reads.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has charged former Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze with abuse of official authority and legalization of illegal income
