Adjara Prosecutor's Office has detained members of Adjara government and former and acting high-ranking officials of the Batumi Municipality City Hall on the basis of court verdict.

The Prosecutor General's Office has released a statement on Thursday, saying that the persons, who have been detained into the charges of misappropriation of the state funds and abuse of power are:

1. Former Batumi Mayor G.E.

2. Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sports B.M.

3. Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy A.V.

4. Batumi Vice-Mayor T.P.

5. Head of Municipal Property and Services Management Service of Batumi City Hall

6. Deputy Head of the City Infrastructure and Improvement Division of Batumi City Hall

7. Head of the Procurement Division of Batumi City Hall

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, an investigation has established that upon the decision of the above-mentioned persons, who were members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall and held various positions in Batumi City Hall, on October 09, 2015, Batumi City Hall announced the electronic tender on the construction of so-called "cheap houses." According to the tender conditions, the facility should have been constructed using lightweight stainless steel constructions.

Before announcement of the tender, the members of the Tender Commission were informed that there was just one company, which had the experienced of building facilities using lightweight stainless steel constructions,” the statement reads.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Batumi City Hall announced a tender based on the design and building cost estimations, prepared by “Convert Georgia” ltd, which provided them with free of charge.

“During the electronic tender, the branch of foreign company "Convert Georgia" has submitted fake documents to the unified electronic system of state procurement.

The members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall have not discussed the submitted documents, while the same documents, submitted by "Convert Georgia" for the same e-tender announced by Batumi City Hall on May 1, 2015, led to the company’s disqualification,” the statement reads.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, although the submitted documents were not in compliance with the tender conditions, the members of the Permanent Tender Commission of Batumi City Hall did not disqualify the branch of foreign company "Convert Georgia", announced it as a wining company and signed GEL 4 279 990 worth contract with "Convert Georgia".

“Abuse of power by Batumi City Mayor and employees of various municipal services, who unlawfully granted priority to "Convert Georgia" and made groundless deposit transfer, led to embezzlement of state money in the amount of GEL 1 370 076,00,” the statement reads.

source: IPN/ interpressnews.ge