The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has charged two representatives of the company “Lagi Capital,” detained by the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance, with large-scale fraud committed by a group with prior agreement, legalization of illegal income, and the preparation/use of false official documents.
This information is disseminated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.
“An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Finance of Georgia established that in February 2023, the Municipal Development Fund announced tenders for the design/construction of kindergartens in the municipalities of Chokhatauri, Ozurgeti, Mtskheta, Ninotsminda, Dedoplistskaro, Gori, and Batumi. To win the announced tenders, the accused prepared and submitted, along with other required documentation, a forged audit report on the company’s work experience. After winning the tenders, the accused requested and received advance payments from the Municipal Development Fund, ostensibly to start construction work on the kindergartens, even though, in most cases, the construction projects for the kindergartens had not yet been approved. As a result, the members of the criminal group fraudulently appropriated 9,365,000 GEL from the Fund for the purpose of project and construction work, without fulfilling the construction obligations under the contracts.
To give a legal appearance to the fraudulently appropriated funds, the accused transferred 1,211,000 GEL in full to a bank account belonging to another company in their own ownership, ostensibly as an advance for services to be provided, which was later used for various purposes, including repaying loans, thereby ultimately integrating and laundering the particularly large amount of criminally obtained funds into the legal financial system.
The detainees were charged under Articles 180, 194 (parts 2 and 3), and 362 (part 2) of the Criminal Code of Georgia (large-scale fraud committed by a group with prior agreement and legalization of illegal income accompanied by obtaining a particularly large amount of income, preparation/use of false official documents), which carries a penalty of 9 to 12 years of imprisonment. The prosecution will petition the court to impose pre-trial detention as a preventive measure for the accused within the legally stipulated timeframe,” the information states.
Two representatives of “Lagi Capital” charged with large-scale fraud by a group, legalization of illegal income, and forgery/use of false official documents
