December 23, 2025 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Former head of Georgia’s State Security Service Grigol Liluashvili has been arrested on bribery charges involving multiple alleged schemes, including those related to Georgia’s infamous scam call centers. He faces 11 to 15 years in prison.

The arrest follows a broader series of prosecutions targeting former Georgian Dream officials, particularly targeting figures linked to Liluashvili and former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who is currently free on bail while facing trial on serious money-laundering charges.

Liluashvili has been charged under Article 338, Parts 2 and 3 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which cover taking a bribe “on a particularly large scale” by a prearranged group.

According to Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze, who announced the arrest during a December 23 press briefing, the first instance of bribery occurred in October 2022, when Liluashvili allegedly received USD1 million from Turkish investor Cagatay Ulker. The transaction was mediated by Romeo Mikautadze, who was the first deputy economy minister at the time and is currently in jail on corruption charges.

“The purpose of the payment was to secure lobbying support for the signing of a memorandum of cooperation related to the construction of wind power plants,” Gvarakidze said.

A second episode occurred in February 2022, the general prosecutor said, when Liluashvili, again through Mikautadze, “demanded and received 1.5 million GEL (USD 558,893)” from businessman Giorgi Khazhalia, founder of Expressservice 2008, in exchange for assistance in gasification tenders.

A third set of allegations concerns activities between 2021 and 2023 linked to scam call centers. Gvarakidze said, “a smaller portion of the call centers was primarily protected by Grigol Liluashvili,” adding that the alleged protection was carried out through his relative, Sandro Liluashvili.

“As a result of the aforementioned criminal activity, Grigol Liluashvili received approximately 1,365,000 USD in bribes through the mediation of Sandro Liluashvili,” the prosecutor general said.

Gvarakidze further claimed that many of the call centers were owned by individuals who used the proceeds “to finance various opposition media outlets.” Investigators are examining what he described as a scheme in which Liluashvili and accomplices allegedly ensured that “the existence of scam call centers financing opposition media outlets was not exposed.” In return, he said, those outlets “refrained from covering information about the fraudulent call centers operating under Liluashvili’s protection, despite having knowledge of this information.”

A fourth episode involves allegations that Liluashvili abused his official position to protect a close associate, Kakhaber Gvantseladze, the former head of Tbilisi City Hall’s Agency for the Management of Preschool Institutions.

“By abusing his official position and in exchange for receiving bribes, Grigol Liluashvili provided protection to his friend,” Gvarakidze said, alleging that Gvantseladze received large kickbacks from businesses connected to procurement contracts for kindergartens.

“Within the aforementioned criminal scheme involving Liluashvili and Gvantseladze, Kakhaber Gvantseladze had also involved employees of the Agency responsible for financial accounting and settlements, as well as monitoring staff. Decisions have been issued against all of them to bring criminal charges as defendants,” Gvarakidze added.

More to follow….

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