According to the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance, as part of an ongoing probe into the legality of how grants allocated by the Rural Development Agency of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture were spent, another member of an organized group has been arrested on charges of large-scale embezzlement of state funds, while criminal prosecution has been launched against seven others.
“The investigation has established that the leaders of the organized group obtained information on 219 beneficiaries interested in the state program for the modernization of the dairy industry and market access. They offered these individuals guaranteed approval of grants under the program, assistance in preparing the required documentation for submission to the agency, and help in covering their co-payment contributions. In exchange, the beneficiaries were asked to hand over to the group the funds they received from the agency as grants.
Out of the GEL 12,935,750 allocated by the Rural Development Agency as grants to the beneficiaries, the actual cost of the work carried out under the projects amounted to GEL 8,824,695, while the remaining GEL 4,111,055 was unlawfully appropriated by members of the organized group,” the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance said.
According to the agency, members of the organized group also unlawfully obtained an additional GEL 1,559,739 in grants from another program run by the agency — the state program for co-financing agricultural machinery and establishing processing and storage enterprises.
“To carry out their criminal activities, the defendants fabricated and used false invoices, delivery notes, and audit reports. In order to legalize the large amounts of property obtained through criminal means, the leaders of the organized group purchased and registered real estate and vehicles in the names of individuals and legal entities associated with them. These assets have been fully identified and seized during the investigation.
At this stage, the investigation has already confirmed the fraudulent appropriation of GEL 5,670,793 in state funds and the laundering of GEL 3,008,906 in illegal income by the defendants. A total of 21 individuals have been charged in connection with the case,” the Investigation Service stated.
It should be recalled that in June and August 2025, 13 individuals — including the head of the Projects and Technical Department of the Rural Development Agency and a former agency employee — were arrested on charges of large-scale embezzlement of agency funds, as well as for producing and using false tax and official documents.
