Magnati LLC owner testifies on alleged asset seizure during former UNM Gov't to Georgian Parliament Commission

Georgian Parliament's Temporary Investigative Commission examining alleged crimes committed by the former United National Movement Government between 2003 and 2012 on Tuesday reviewed the case of Magnati LLC.

During the session, the company’s owner, businessman Jemal Leonidze, testified, accusing TBC Bank, Mamuka Khazaradze, Badri Japaridze, and David Kezerashvili of asset appropriation.

Leonidze alleged that following his arrest, his company Magnati was bankrupted, and another of his companies, a joint-stock company, was left with a debt of $5 million.

Leonidze claimed that he wrote to Zurab Adeishvili, the wanted former Minister of Justice of Georgia under the United National Movement Government, requesting that his company not be removed from the registry, however, he asserts that Magnati was ultimately driven to bankruptcy.

He further claimed that the judge disregarded his appeals, and the company, over which he has had a dispute since 2009, was nonetheless bankrupted.

He also stressed that before the Russo-Georgian war in 2008, David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Minister of Defence of Georgia, desired to carry out certain actions within his company.

Leonidze further alleged a “special order” from Kezerashvili directed at the management of TBC Bank. He asserted that “absolutely everyone” was involved, starting from Zurab Adeishvili, because the actions taken against his and his family's properties at that time could not have been orchestrated solely by Kezerashvili and Mamuka Khazaradze, a co-founder of TBC Bank.

Recounting past events, Leonidze claimed that the seizure imposed by the National Bureau of Enforcement on his network of gas stations was lifted within one hour, the properties were re-registered, and subsequently, a new seizure was immediately applied.

“The entire Government apparatus was involved in this scheme to transfer these properties to Kezerashvili's ownership. Everyone knew that I would not do this willingly, and they did what they did - they isolated me, and the company to which my properties were transferred, an oil products distribution company, sold these properties to Kezerashvili's San Petroleum Georgia a year and a half later, supposedly for $13 million”, he noted.

Leonidze asserted that while property transactions were officially recorded under the name of TBC Bank, the actual executors of these deals were Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.

The businessman described the case as part of a broader pattern of economic and political repression under the previous government. His testimony is expected to contribute to the commission’s ongoing efforts to investigate business-related abuses and possible violations during that period.