The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, as a result of a complex investigation conducted with the State Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance, revealed the fact of illegal entrepreneurship committed by the organized group and exposed a large amount of unlawful income in a transnational criminal case. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against six persons.
A statement from the prosecutor's office said that F.N. - a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had set up a structurally organized criminal group to smuggle large quantities of foreign currency from abroad, bypassing the procedures established at the customs border of Georgia. Also, the aim was to give this a legal outlook by placing money in bank accounts of fictitious enterprises.
bm.ge offers the statement of the Prosecutor's Office unchanged:
"The functions of the members of a criminal group operating illegally and for material gain included: creating legal entities without entrepreneurial intent and exercising their representative powers, bypassing customs control, through special hiding places arranged in vehicles, smuggling money from abroad to Georgia, further distribution and placement of money in bank accounts of fictitious enterprises for fictitious purposes and also, making fake payment documents and making bank transfers based on them in different countries.
According to the pre-designed scheme, F.N., a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a member of an organized group. Through this group, involving several persons (G.A. G.G. G.C. M.TS. and D.D.) F.N. registered several legal entities as entrepreneurial entities, which opened accounts in banking institutions operating in Georgia.
In 2016-2020, a particularly large amount of illegal and unjustified amounts collected in Georgia, imported from abroad and partially altered, bypassing customs control: USD 15,385,489.6, EUR 20,786,875 and GEL 1,268,036.6 to disguise its illegal origin, the members of the criminal group distributed the money and placed it in the fictitious bank accounts of the enterprises under their ownership and management.
Subsequently, the unlawfully connected persons, based on forged invoices and contracts made by them and submitted to the banking institutions, allegedly made multiple transactions from the bank accounts of the enterprises in different countries to purchase various goods.
At the same time, real estate was acquired and seized in the criminal case by the organizer of the crime, F.N., and persons related to him, possibly purchased as a result of the criminal proceeds, namely: four residential apartments located in Tbilisi, a total of 288 sq.m. Commercial area, located in Kvemo Kartli and Guria region, total 6230 sq.m. Three plots of land, located in Rustavi, for industrial purposes 314 437 sq.m. The land and the building on it and three expensive cars.
As a result of investigative actions in the same case, more than 1,700,000 GEL was confiscated from one of the facilities located in Tbilisi.
On June 15, 2021, five persons involved in the crime were arrested - G.A., G.G., G.C., M.C., and D.D., charged under Article 193 of the Criminal Code of Georgia and Article 194, Part 3, Subparagraphs "a" and "c." The organizer, F.N., was prosecuted under 25-193 Article of the Criminal Code of Georgia and Article 25-194, Part 3, Subparagraphs "a" and "c."
The act committed by the accused is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 9 to 12 years.
One of the main directions of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia is the fight against money laundering. "The prosecutor's office continues to carry out intensive investigations and international cooperation to identify and expose members of the criminal group, as well as other individuals or legal entities engaged in similar activities," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
