The lawyer of Bidzina Ivanishvili, Teimuraz Tsikvadze, has released a statement regarding the case of the former Chairman of the Co-Investment Fund, Giorgi Bachiashvili.

As he said, the former Chairman who was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia for misappropriation of cryptocurrency and money laundering, had “misled” Ivanishvili through Bitcoin investment advice for the Fund between 2015 / 2016.

Lawyer’s statement denied the claim by Bachiashvili’s lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who said the initiation of the investigation against Bachiashvili was related to his “pro-Ukraine and pro-Western statements”.

“The special trust was established between Ivanishvili and Bachiashvili over the years, the latter had enjoyed the best conditions for personal and professional development at the Fund.

Bachiashvili had been employed in organizations owned by Ivanishvili over 13 years he had offered Ivanishvili to invest money in Bitcoin mining and production during the former’s time as the head of the Fund in 2015.

Ivanishvili found the business proposal interesting. At the same time, considering that he fully trusted Bachiashvili, he agreed to his proposal and decided to invest USD 5 million in Bitcoin mining.

The corresponding loan was issued by Cartu Bank, also founded by Ivanishvili, and fully secured by Ivanishvili’s personal funds.

Bachiashvili later expressed concern about an unstable situation in the cryptocurrency market, and convinced Ivanishvili to return the investment by selling the earned amount of bitcoins, explaining that the value of the earned currency would only be sufficient for the procedure.

Ivanishvili, on the one hand, had full confidence in the accused, and on the other hand, knew from the beginning that the project had been extremely risky [...] It was these circumstances that became the basis for Ivanishvili giving the appropriate consent [for the return].

Bachiashvili returned USD 5 million between August-September 2016, and handed over USD 536,900 to Nato Khaindrava, the General Director of Cartu Bank, approximately one year later. The head of the Fund said the amount was the money received from the sale of bitcoins generated as a result of the mining after the return of the investment.

At the time, no one doubted Bachiashvili’s good faith, but later, after there appeared serious grounds for assuming that the funds invested in one of the projects of the Fund were being spent inappropriately, Ivanishvili became interested in studying the issue of bitcoin mining, and it turned out that Bachiashvili had misled the investor and appropriated millions of USD worth of cryptocurrency.

Ivanishvili became suspicious of Bachiashvili’s activities after questions arose regarding the Mtkvari hydropower plant project financed by the Fund.

The total investment volume of the project was about USD 131 million, and the HPP was supposed to be put into operation in 2020. However, in the end, the cost of construction of the project increased by USD 100 million, to about USD 235 million, and despite this, the project is still not completed. This is probably due to non-relevant spending, embezzlement or misappropriation of funds intended for investment on the part of the heads of the Fund.

Ivanishvili had intended to take legal action on the issue surrounding the plant, even if there had been no apparent issues related to the investment in cryptocurrency”, - writes the lawyer.