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Georgia prosecutor’s office demands $600,000 bail for Tbilisi mayor

The city mayor is accused of embezzling budget funds worth $12 million

TBILISI, February 24 (Itar-Tass) – The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has addressed the Tbilisi city court demanding that Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava should pay a 600,000 dollar bail as a measure of restraint, Prosecutor-General Archil Kbilashvili said on Sunday.

The city mayor “is accused of embezzling budget funds worth $12 million, therefore the bail is so high,” he said on Georgia’s Rusatvi-2 television channel.

Moreover, the Prosecutor’s Office insisted that Ugulava should not leave Georgia and that his powers as mayor should be suspended until the investigation is over.

The Tbilisi city court will consider a petition of the Prosecutor’s Office on February 25.

The investigative service of Georgia’s Ministry of Finance discovered a criminal scheme established by the former authorities to appropriate the Imedi television company in 2008 and proved that Ugulava was one of the main participants in the scheme.

Ugulava is also accused of using budget funds to finance the activities of members of the then ruling party United National Movement through creating phantom jobs for party activists.