Update: The Prosecutor’s Office told BMG that the lawyer’s information is inaccurate. According to the prosecution, the individuals released under plea agreements are defendants in another money-laundering case and are not connected to the so-called $700 million laundering case. BMG will address additional questions to the Prosecutor’s Office..
New details have emerged for bm.ge in the high-profile “money laundering” case, in which Kakha Kotorashvili is accused of illegally legalizing $700 million. As the main defendant’s lawyer, Edisher Karchava, states, two ethnic Azerbaijani defendants were involved in the case, and both have already been released with suspended sentences.
“A plea agreement has not yet been reached”, - said Kakha Kotorashvili’s lawyer regarding the ₾700 million laundering case.
Until now, only one defendant, Eldar Huseynov, had been publicly identified, but it has now been revealed that another person had also been detained in the case and later released by the Prosecutor’s Office on the basis of a plea agreement.
According to the lawyer, these were individuals who physically brought the money into Georgia, and proceedings against them have already concluded.
“All the other individuals involved in this case who were Azerbaijanis received plea agreements and were released with suspended sentences. We had two such individuals in our case, and both are free. We have made the same request. If other defendants who directly brought in the funds were given plea deals, what did Kotorashvili do wrong, when he only exchanged the money? We asked for a plea agreement too and even offered a specific amount”, - said Karchava.
Karchava claims that Kotorashvili merely performed currency conversions and that the process was fully transparent and part of “ordinary turnover.”“It was ordinary turnover. There were suspicions that someone at the border was protecting them, but that was never confirmed. People came in normally, brought the money, exchanged it with us, and there was no organized criminal group. It was ordinary currency exchange. Who helped them at the border is not our concern. We’re talking about $700 million in turnover over four years. A year before Kotorashvili’s arrest, these two defendants were detained and then released. We were questioned as witnesses before that and told everything. We explained a year ago that they brought the money, exchanged it, and that was it. Now the case has been publicized in a way that makes it difficult for them to make a decision.
They packaged the case for PR purposes, and that’s why it’s hard to decide now. There was nothing extraordinary—just ordinary turnover. We paid taxes, were taxed in every way, and followed the law. Everyone who brought money across the border was released with suspended sentences,” he said.
According to the prosecution, members of an organized criminal group illegally imported 59 billion Russian rubles from Azerbaijan, which were later exchanged into $624 million and €35 million.
At this stage, Kakha Kotorashvili remains in custody. The substantive hearings are beginning at the Tbilisi City Court, with the next session scheduled for March 19. The defense continues to await a plea agreement.
Earlier, the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office, together with the State Security Service of Georgia, arrested Kotorashvili on September 16 on charges of laundering illegal income amounting to $624 million and €35 million. According to the prosecution, under the cover of a currency exchange office licensed by the National Bank, Kotorashvili deliberately ignored legal requirements on preventing money laundering and terrorism financing and organized an illegal network to collect funds of unknown origin, convert them, and place them into legal circulation.
Kotorashvili is exercising his right to remain silent. During the hearing on pretrial detention, lawyer Edisher Karchava emphasized that the investigation had been ongoing for more than a year and that, despite questions arising as early as October 2024, Kotorashvili had not attempted to flee.
It is also noted that companies linked to Kakha Kotorashvili paid ₾210,000 in taxes only at the end of December 2025.
