Former Georgian security chief Grigol Liluashvili jailed for 13 years for corruption

Georgia’s ex-security chief jailed

Former head of Georgia’s State Security Service Grigol Liluashvili was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 16 September on corruption charges. The ruling was handed down by Tbilisi City Court judge Nino Tarashvili.

Liluashvili headed the State Security Service for more than five years, from October 2019 to December 2025. He was found guilty on all four charges. Liluashvili denied the charges.

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Charges against Grigol Liluashvili

Grigol Liluashvili was arrested on 23 December 2025.

He was accused of “accepting particularly large bribes as part of a group acting by prior agreement”.

Prosecutors charged Liluashvili over four separate bribery cases.

● The first dates back to October 2022. According to prosecutors, Liluashvili received $1m from Turkish investor Cagatay Ulker through then Deputy Economy Minister Romeo Mikautadze, who is also in custody. Prosecutors said the money was paid in exchange for lobbying for a wind farm construction project.

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According to the prosecutor, there is evidence to support this.

● According to the second case, in February 2022 Liluashvili, again through Romeo Mikautadze, demanded and received 1.5m lari (about $580,000) from Giorgi Khazhalia, founder of Express Service 2008, in exchange for helping the company secure tenders for household gasification projects.

● The third case concerned call centres operating in Georgia between 2021 and 2023. According to prosecutors, Liluashvili took bribes from “a small number of call centres that remained in Georgia” through his relative Sandro Liluashvili.

Prosecutors allege that Liluashvili received about $1.365m in connection with the call centres, with Sandro Liluashvili acting as an intermediary.

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● The fourth case involved Kakha Gvantseladze, former director of the Tbilisi City Hall agency responsible for managing kindergartens.

According to prosecutors, Liluashvili used his official position to protect Gvantseladze’s alleged corrupt activities in exchange for payment. Prosecutors said Gvantseladze received particularly large sums in kickbacks from private companies in return for awarding them procurement contracts for kindergartens.

Georgia’s ex-security chief jailed