Interview by Georgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively to VK
Recently in Tbilisi, the former deputy head of the district administration in Old Tbilisi, Koba Kharshiladze, was arrested. He is accused of financial fraud and money laundering in 2007. It seemed a petty event: there are a lot of current and former officials who have been arrested in corruption cases by the former and current government. But the arrest of Kharshiladze became a sensation, since for more than 15 years, he was head of security of the former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who was found dead in the safe house on Feb. 3, 2005. The reasons of his death are not known yet. According to the preliminary version, Zhvania suffocated from carbon monoxide, but many politicians and experts believe that in fact the former prime minister was killed. So the arrest of his former guard caused a major stir in the country.
Even the current Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in an interview hinted that actually Kharshiladze was arrested in order to continue investigating the mysterious death of one of the most influential Georgian politicians in his time. Unraveling the mystery of Zhvania's death is a matter of honor for the new authorities. On the eve of parliamentary elections in 2012 the "curator" of the current government, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili repeatedly promised to "solve the crime and find the killers".
One of the closest associates of Zurab Zhvania Yelena Tevdoradze commented on the situation in an interview with VK.
- Yelena Konstantinovna, are there really a lot of questions to Koba Kharshiladze in connection with the tragedy that occurred almost nine years ago on the Saburtalo street in the city center?
- We all knew Koba Kharshiladze very well. He worked as Zurab’s guard since 1990, i. e. since when Zhvania was not chairman of the parliament, but only led the Green Party, and then the Citizens' Union of Georgia. With all the changes, Kharshiladze was close to him. But after the murder of Zhvania miraculous changes occurred to him: he was appointed to a high position in the administration of the city of Tbilisi, started to earn a lot of money and so on.
- Are you convinced that Zhvania did not die of carbon monoxide asphyxiation but was killed?
- Yes, I am convinced! I have long thought about it, compared all the facts, events, and finally I came to this opinion.
- It turns out that Zhvania 's closest friends, including Saakashvili, hid the truth from the public. But the power in the country has changed a year ago. Why couldn’t a new ruling team investigate the matter and find the killers?
- This is not so. The prosecutor's office is investigating the case and, as far as I know, the investigation into the murder of Zurab Zhvania will already be completed in two months. The spouse of the deceased told me so.
- That is, was Kharshiladze actually arrested in connection with this case?
- Formally, he was accused of financial fraud . But we all know that it was a pretext to continue then questioning in the case of the mysterious death of Zurab Zhvania.
