A company owned by the son and daughter-in-law of Nodar Talakhadze, the Chairperson of the Infrastructure Commission and Member of the Tender Commission of the Akhaltsikhe City Council - Company L S Georgia LLC - received 8,797,512 GEL from the state procurements in 2020-2021. 2,290,017 GEL (78%) contracts of which were awarded by Akhaltsikhe City Hall through tenders without competition and direct procurements, - according to Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia).
According to the document, Nodar Talakhadze has been holding various positions in Akhaltsikhe local government since 2014. In 2014-2017, he was the Head of the Economic Development and Property Management Service of the Akhaltsikhe Municipal Administration. In 2018-2021, Talakhadze was the Deputy Chairperson of the Georgian Dream Democratic Georgia – Akhaltsikhe faction in the Akhaltsikhe City Council. He has been the Chairperson of the Infrastructure Commission as well as a Member of the Tender Commission of the Akhaltsikhe City Council since 2021.
Nodar Talakhadze is the father-in-law of Eka Tateshvili, a 25% shareholder of Arali LLC, a company with close ties to Bidzina Ivanishvili. Transparency International Georgia repeatedly reported about the potential corrupt state procurements of Arali LLC and its privatization of state property, as well as subsidies received from the state program.
In 2014, Eka Tateshvili founded Company L S Georgia LLC, which is one of over ten companies owned by the Tateshvili family. However, this company has begun receiving state procurements since February 4, 2020, after Eka Tateshvili transferred the directorship of the LLC and a 50% share to her spouse, Tariel Talakhadze.
Two weeks after Tariel Talakhadze assumed the management of the company, Company L S Georgia signed a contract with the Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall on the first winning tender. This LLC has never received state procurement before. The tender worth 220,170 GEL was won by the seemingly inexperienced Company L S Georgia as a result of the competitor's disqualification. In the experience section, the company indicated the contracts confirming its work as a subcontractor with Arali LLC. According to the contacts, it is clear that the director of Arali LLC, Demetri Tateshvili, hired his sister, Eka Tateshvili's Company L S Georgia to execute the requirements of the received state procurements.
The company owned by Nodar Talakhadze's son and daughter-in-law has received a total of 8,797,512 GEL through 20 state procurements since 2020. Of these, 9 procurements were awarded by the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and 2,935,177 GEL (33.3%) were received from the Akhaltsikhe City Hall. It should be noted that the company won all tenders except for one when the competitor was Arali LLC, without competition or with the disqualification of the competitor in Akhaltsikhe Municipality.
