Bidzina Ivanishvili's lawyer, Temo Tsikvadze declares, that charges against Giorgi Bachiashvili may be aggravated. According to Tsikvadze, the case concerns the "Mtkvari HPP" project, which is implemented by the "Co-Investment Fund". Tsikvadze notes that the project is running with a significant delay and a sharp increase in costs, amounting to USD 100 million.
The lawyer writes that according to Ivanishvili's assessment, the increase in costs was due to Giorgi Bachiashvili's mismanagement of the project and embezzlement/appropriation of funds.
"In 2014, the Georgian Co-Investment Fund started the construction of one of the energy projects - Mtkvari HPP. The mentioned project was stopped for years. The construction of the project was led by Giorgi Bachiashvili, executive director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund. He held this position until April 2019, and later became the chairman of the advisory board of the fund.
According to the initial calculations, the total investment volume of the project was about USD 131 million, and the HPP was supposed to be put into operation in 2020. However, in the end, the cost of construction of the project increased by USD 100 million up to USD 235 million. Despite this, the project is still not completed. This is probably due to the non-targeted spending, embezzlement or misappropriation of funds. In fact, it turns out that with such colossal overspending, Mtkvari HPP will be the most expensive construction in the field.
Obviously, the mentioned circumstance raised doubts about the project and the good faith of Giorgi Bachiashvili, the head of the fund in general",- says the lawyer.
According to the website of the co-investment fund, the installed capacity of "Mtkvari HPP" amounts to 54 megawatts.
