06.02.2004, 18.19
TBILISI, February 6 (Itar-Tass) -- There have been more arrests of associates of Georgia’s former President Eduard Shevardnadze.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office has detained the financial director of Tbilisi’s electric power company Telasi, Ilya Kutidze on tax evasion charges, sources at the Georgian Interior Ministry have said.
The first deputy general director of the mining and ore-dressing enterprise Madneuli, Vakhtang Chkheidze was detained on the Turkish border during an attempt to leave the country. He is accused of repeated gross tax evasion.
Madneuli’s general director, Zurab Lobzhanidze has been abroad on the excuse of undergoing medical treatment.
Reliable sources regard Lobzhanidze as a close associate of Shevardnadze’s relatives.
Education Minister Alexander Kartoziya may be put in custody soon.
Two other former ministers were earlier detained on corruption charges – Energy Minister David Mirtskhulava and Transport Minister Merab Adeishvili.