The governor of the National Bank of Georgia says that the regulator’s fine on Cartu Bank is completely legal. Natia Turnava limited herself to this comment while speaking to journalists after a closed court session on the “Bachiashvili's case”, where Natia Turnava testified.
“Everything is completely legal. We always impose sanctions and fines on banks when necessary,” Turnava said.
The prosecution filed a motion to partially close the hearing. As the prosecutor of the case, Mikheil Sadradze, stated, the purpose of this is to protect commercial secrets, since the questions and issues that will be asked of Natia Turnava will concern commercial secrets. The defense did not agree with the motion. The defendant's lawyer, Levan Makharashvili, explained that the motion must meet the principle of an objective test and no commercial secrets will be revealed at the hearing. Judge Giorgi Gelashvili granted the prosecution's motion and partially closed the hearing.
The charges against Giorgi Bachiashvili relate to actions taken in 2017. Specifically, according to the prosecutor's office, Bachiashvili gave only 536,900 USD to an investor in exchange for the total profit made from their investment, while unlawfully appropriating the remaining 8,986 bitcoins, which were worth up to 43 million USD at the time.
