The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) announced the arrest of Levan Akhobadze, a former deputy head of the agency, on allegations of taking a “particularly large amount of bribe.”
Akhobadze was arrested over a 2024 case, when the SSSG was headed by Grigol Liluashvili, who resigned in April 2025 and has been in custody since December 2025 on bribery charges linked to multiple alleged schemes.
In a May 22 briefing, Emzar Gagnidze, the head of the SSSG’s anti-corruption agency, said Akhobadze took GEL 250,000 (approximately USD 95,000) in 2024 as a bribe “in exchange for assistance” in the return of confiscated undeclared cash at the Georgia-Russia Lars border checkpoint for a “private entrepreneur.”
According to Emzar Gagnidze, in April 2024, Akhobadze learned that a private entrepreneur had 40,000,000 Russian rubles – equivalent to GEL 1,164,000 (approximately USD 440,000), in undeclared cash confiscated at the Lars customs checkpoint on the Georgia-Russia border. Gagnidze clarified that Georgian law prohibits transporting or bringing cash exceeding GEL 100,000 across the border by bypassing customs control, concealment, or false declaration, with violations punishable by a fine of 10% of the cash amount or confiscation of the goods.
Gagnidze said the entrepreneur applied through legal procedures to the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance seeking the return of the confiscated funds but was denied. He added that Akhobadze later “contacted him through intermediaries and promised assistance in returning the confiscated funds.”
“As a result of negotiations, by paying the legally required 10% fine, the entrepreneur recovered the confiscated cash on April 30, 2024, at the Lars customs checkpoint. After this, Akhobadze again contacted him through intermediaries and demanded a bribe of GEL 500,000 [USD 188,000] in exchange for the assistance,” Gagnidze said, adding that the SSSG’s then-chief Grigol Liluashvili, intervened, “the demanded amount was reduced by half, and within a few days after the return of the confiscated funds, the person transferred GEL 250,000 [USD 93996] to an intermediary for delivery to Akhobadze.”
“The bribe money was handed over the same day to the then deputy head of the State Security Service in his own office.”
The investigation is being conducted under Article 338 of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which pertains to bribe-taking and carries a possible prison sentence of between 11 and 15 years.
Soon after the briefing, Razhden Kuprashvili, who headed the now-abolished Anti-Corruption Bureau, told media that he will serve as Akhobadze’s lawyer in court.
The arrest amid Georgian Dream declared anti-corruption drive, which has increasingly targeted individuals linked to Liluashvili. Among them were the October arrests of Andria Liluashvili and Koba Khundadze on money laundering charges. In December, prosecutors said Bichiko Paikidze, a businessman and former ruling party municipal councilor also linked to Liluashvili, was arrested in Barcelona after being placed on an international wanted list.
Critics, however, have questioned the ruling party’s anti-corruption efforts, arguing that the campaign reflects internal retribution and power struggles.
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