The Prosecutor`s Office of Georgia has charged 8 individuals with the facts of fraudulent appropriation of a large amount of money by an organized group using their official position, legalization of illegal income, and organization, production and use of false tax and official documents.

As a result of the ongoing investigation by the State Security Service of Georgia, it was established that in the fall of 2019, the then General Director of JSC "Georgian Railways" David Peradze formed an organized criminal group, which, in accordance with a pre-developed scheme, was to ensure the collection, transportation and sorting of scrap metal belonging to JSC "Georgian Railways" for subsequent sale in such a way that its initial exact amount could not be determined. In accordance with the criminal agreement, part of the collected scrap metal was systematically transported from various territories of "Georgian Railways" by trucks instead of being stored and delivered to the "Geosteel" LLC enterprise. The organized criminal group prepared false tax documents.

Using a criminal scheme, in 2020-2021, members of the criminal group acquired 22,120 tons of scrap metal belonging to the Georgian Railways, which, after changing its origin, was sold to Geosteel LLC, and the proceeds from the sale were accumulated in the bank accounts of the business entities involved in the scheme, and were periodically withdrawn and distributed among the group members. Accordingly, the Georgian Railways suffered a large amount of material damage of 17,391,121 GEL.

Also, in 2022, David Peradze formed an organized group and on April 29, 2022, an agreement was signed between JSC "Georgian Railways" and LLC "Raveldi", according to which the joint-stock company purchased services for repairing defects on the rails in the track from the supplier. During the work, at the instruction and organization of David Peradze, the then director of the infrastructure branch of "Georgian Railways" and the director of the supplier recorded false data in the acceptance and delivery acts, on the basis of which LLC "Raveldi" received 403,844.69 GEL in excess from "Georgian Railways". As a result, "Georgian Railways" suffered a large amount of material damage.

The detainees, as well as two individuals in absentia, were charged with abusing their official position, committing large-scale fraud by an organized group, legalizing illegal income, and organizing, producing, and using false tax and official documents, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 12 years in prison.

The Prosecutor`s Office shall apply to the court within the time limit established by law with a request to impose imprisonment as a preventive measure on the accused.

A wanted list will be issued for two individuals who were indicted in absentia.