The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has brought charges against five individuals for defrauding citizens of substantial sums of money, committed by an organized group abusing their official positions.

An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia revealed that the accused orchestrated an elaborate scheme and, disguised as developers of a multi-apartment residential building, established “Delux Development LLC” and “Demax Gotua LLC” in different years. Representatives of these companies signed sales agreements with citizens interested in purchasing apartments. By signing the agreements, the representatives undertook the obligation to complete the construction and hand over the real estate to the owners. Subsequently, the victims transferred large amounts of money to the bank accounts of both companies. Despite these commitments, the accused failed to complete the construction or hand over the purchased areas to the owners. Through this criminal scheme, the members of the organized group obtained 10,108,695 GEL belonging to 111 citizens.

Three of the detainees have been charged under sub-clause “b” of the 3rd part and sub-clause “a” of the 4th part of Article 180 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (fraud in large amounts, committed by an organized group, using official position), which carries a penalty of imprisonment ranging from 7 to 10 years. The remaining two individuals face charges under the same article, and efforts are underway to locate and detain them.

The Prosecutor’s Office will apply to the court for the implementation of preventive measures against the defendants within the legally prescribed timeframe.