Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of the Co-Investment Fund, accused in the case of misappropriation of the cryptocurrency of the founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, was given bail of 2 million 500 thousand GEL.
He was also forbidden to leave the country until the investigation of the case is completed, and he was ordered to hand over his Georgian and Russian passports to the investigative agency.
The decision was announced by the judge of the Tbilisi City Court, Tamar Mchedlishvili yesterday.
For information, the prosecutor’s office demanded the use of 3 million GEL as a preventive measure. The defendant himself, Giorgi Bachiashvili, stated at the trial that he never committed a crime and it is not clear to him why he is involved in this process. For information, the case refers to the action taken in 2017. In particular, according to the prosecutor’s office, Bachiashvili gave the investor only 536,900 US dollars in exchange for the full profit from the investment and illegally appropriated the remaining 8,253.13 bitcoins belonging to the investor, the value of which was 39,215,820 US dollars at the time of his illegal appropriation.
According to the agency, criminal prosecution has been initiated against the accused on the facts of illegal appropriation of a large amount of crypto-currency and legalization of illegal income, which provides for imprisonment from 9 to 12 years.
Giorgi Bachiashvili founded the co-investment fund in 2013 and held the position of executive director for 6 years. Since May 2019, he has held the position of chairman of the advisory board.
The Prosecutor’s Office does not release information about the identity of the investor who, according to them, was affected by Bachiashvili.