VP Speaker: Anaklia not private project - but project of state importance
Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili says that the case of the founders of the TBC Bank is a high profile one and the prosecution will have to prove that the filed charge is justified.
Tweet 
Share
Georgian Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili says that the $2.5 billion Anaklia Deep Sea Port project is not the project of a private individual, but rather a project that is important for the state.
In doing so, Chugoshvili responded to the allegations of TBC Bank founder Mamuka Khazaradze, who has connected the recent criminal charge against him and his deputy to the goal of ‘some state figures’ to stop the project.
The government has stated many times and I repeat that the Anaklia Port is not the project of some individual or a consortium, it is a strategically important project and the government does its best for its construction. We need the deep-sea port to increase Georgia’s transit capability and boost the state economy,” Chugoshvili said.
Khazaradze, who has been charged with laundering $16.7 million in 2007-2008, represents the TBC Holding in the Anaklia Development Consortium, which won the state tender back in 2016 to attract funds for the port’s construction.
The port is meant to connect Europe with Asia with an alternative, shorter route.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that statements [by the opposition and others] that the Georgian Dream government does not want the Anaklia deep sea port to be constructed are “cheap and irresponsible political speculations."
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has demanded the withdrawal of the head of the supervisory council of the Georgian leading TBC bank Mamuka Khazaradze and the deputy head of the council Badri Japaridze from the council due to a money laundering case being investigated by the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have officially been charged with laundering $16.7 million in 2007-2008. Khazaradze says that the charge “aims to stop the construction of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.”
Top figures of the Georgian Dream ruling party say that there are no political grounds in the accusations against TBC founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, who will be charged with laundering of $16.7 million later today.
The US Embassy to Georgia says that they are ‘closely following’ the developments related to the criminal charges the Georgian Chief Prosecutor General’s Office has filed against TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.