Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Mayor of the capital of Georgia, Gigi Ugulava, was dismissed by a verdict of the Tbilisi municipal court. The verdict was sentenced by Judge Dali Metreveli at 1 a.m. upon a request of the General Prosecution which accused the former mayor of misapplication of $30 million. However, nobody states that Ugulava stole the money. According to prosecution, he spent it illegally on financial support of the former ruling party the United National Movement during the election campaign of 2012.
Ugulava may be sent to prison for 7-11 years for the crime. The Prosecution demanded his instant arrest, but late at night the judge and investigators came to a compromise: the first mayor elected at direct election in 2010 wasn’t sent to prison, but was dismissed.
Moreover, it is not the first accusation against him. Earlier this year the Prosecution found out that Ugulava hired activists of the UNM to the Tbilservice Company which was responsible for cleaning of the city. Investigators say that many of party activists have never worked street cleaners and have no intention to, while Tbilservice paid generous salary to them for “political agitation”. The third criminal case against the mayor is embezzlement of Imedi TV-company which was founded by late businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili in 2001.
The Prosecution cannot accuse Ugulava of personal gain. Obviously, even Imedi belonged to him only formally, and “an operation” was held in 2008 at the order of President Saakashvili for “cleaning” the information field from the opposition mass media. But the Crime Code sees no difference between reasons for illegal misapplication of money and abuse of the official position. Representatives of Georgian Dream recall that President of Germany had to resign because of the case in which sums were much smaller.
However, the process against Gigi Ugulava will be a politically important event rather than a common criminal case, like the authorities say. Tbilisi Mayor was the last figure from Mikhail Saakashvili’s team, who held power. Moreover, he held power in the capital.
In spring 2014 new mayor elections will take place in Tbilisi. Gigi Ugulava has many times stated that he planned to take part in them, while the minister of infrastructure David Narmania couldn’t be a serious rival for him. Therefore, the investigation against Ugulava and his dismissal will be considered a politically motivated process not only in Georgia, but also abroad.
