Employees of the American organization Atlantic Council, Sopo Gelava and Eto Buziashvili, had their accounts restricted by the Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank. On October 29, Giorgi Noniashvili, the spouse of Sopo Gelava and a member of the political council of the Federalists party, shared this information.
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Giorgi Noniashvili wrote on social media that four days after the Ministry of Finance's investigative service conducted a search, his wife’s access to her personal accounts and cards was restricted.
"Officially, there is no seizure order on these accounts, meaning the access is unreasonably and unlawfully limited, raising reasonable suspicion that it is based on informal state instruction," Noniashvili wrote on Facebook.
According to Sopo Gelava, the bank informed her of a "technical fault" but did not issue an official notification.
"They expect me to accept this verbal explanation, as if it’s just a technical fault. Given that my colleague, whose account was also accessed on October 24, has had their account suspended at another bank and received the same reason, I clearly attribute this to the raids. There’s simply no legal basis for it. If a seizure exists, there should be a court ruling, but that is not the case," said Gelava.
Her lawyer, Shota Tutberidze, explains that account seizure requires a court ruling, and in cases where law enforcement lacks such a ruling, such issues are often “resolved” with a phone call or an informal request.
"Sopo and Eto’s accounts were restricted through an informal request to the banks, asking them to temporarily suspend access. Unfortunately, no one at the banks was willing to say, ‘Folks, yes, there’s no suspicious money in these accounts.’ Even if we don't talk about acting unlawfully," Tutberidze noted.
Later in the day, TBC Bank issued a brief statement citing a "service disruption to customers." The bank explained that it operates "in accordance with existing legislation, including the regulations under the Georgian law governing commercial bank activities."
The Bank of Georgia has yet to respond on this matter.
On October 24, the Ministry of Finance's investigative service searched the apartments of Georgian employees of the Atlantic Council, Eto Buziashvili and Sopo Gelava, seizing electronic devices, laptops, and phones. Buziashvili and Gelava work on investigating Russian disinformation.
On the same day, searches were also conducted at the Vake office of Concentrix, a major American business services company, and at the home of businessman Valeri Tkeshelashvili in Kutaisi.
The Ministry of Finance's investigative service stated that the searches were based on operative information related to so-called call center activities, with investigations ongoing into fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
