Prosecutor's Office Charges Seven Individuals and Three Legal Entities with Illegal Business Activity and Legalization of Large Amounts of Illegal Income by an Organized Group
The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has charged seven individuals and three legal entities with illegal business activity and legalization of large amounts of illegal income by an organized group. The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has released information about this.
As stated in the information, an investigation conducted by the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia established that from October 2022 to August 2023, members of an organized group extracted sand/gravel worth 2,138,771 GEL from the Mtkvari River bed in the Kvemo Kartli region without a mandatory license and sold it to various companies.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the proceeds of the crime were deposited into the accounts of legal entities selected by them in advance in order to conceal the crime and cover up its illegal and/or unsubstantiated origin, and then transferred to their own accounts and those of persons related to them. The damage caused to the environment as a result of the illegal entrepreneurial activities carried out by the members of the organized group amounted to 2,235,507 GEL in total. Law enforcement officers detained four persons in the aforementioned criminal case based on a court ruling, while two defendants are serving sentences in a penitentiary institution for other crimes. In total, seven individuals and three legal entities were charged under Article 192, Part 2, Subparagraph “a” and Article 194, Part 3, Subparagraphs “a” and “c” of the Criminal Code of Georgia (illegal entrepreneurial activity committed by a group, resulting in the receipt of a large amount of income and causing significant damage, and legalization of illegal income committed by an organized group, resulting in the receipt of a particularly large amount of income), which provides for imprisonment for a term of 9 and 12 years, respectively.
According to the investigative body, the investigation into the criminal case is ongoing.