A court hearing for Giorgi Bachiashvili, former head of the Co-Investment Fund, is ongoing at the Tbilisi City Court. The case concerns the alleged misappropriation of cryptocurrency belonging to Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream.
The affected party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, will testify remotely via a video link during today’s hearing. The defendant, Giorgi Bachiashvili, attends the session.
During the hearing, prosecutor Mikheil Sadradze filed a motion to partially close the proceedings. According to Sadradze, the trial should be partially closed to protect commercial secrets, and Ivanishvili’s questioning should occur during this closed session.
The defence team and the defendant Giorgi Bachiashvili opposed closing the trial. The defence states that there is a significant public interest in the process, therefore Ivanishvili’s query should occur publicly, arguing that his testimony does not involve any commercial secrets.
The judge granted the prosecution’s motion and closed the proceedings.
The charges against Giorgi Bachiashvili relate to actions carried out in 2017. Specifically, according to the prosecution, Bachiashvili only transferred $536,900 to the investor instead of the full profit from the invested amount and illegally appropriated the remaining 8,986 bitcoins belonging to the investor, which at the time of misappropriation was valued at up to $43 million.
Giorgi Bachiashvili does not plead guilty to the charges. This offence carries a prison sentence of nine to twelve years.
