In 2023, the United States of America refused to issue a visa to Davit Kezerashvili, the former Minister of Defense of Georgia and the founder of the TV company Formula, with "money laundering" as the basis. Kezerashvili is demanding records about himself and has initiated a dispute against the US State Department regarding this matter.
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According to the lawsuit filed in the Colombian court on February 20, 2024, Davit Kezerashvili, who currently resides in London, United Kingdom, applied to the United States Embassy in Cyprus for a US visa. He had applied for a B-2 tourist visa.
On July 18, 2023, the embassy rejected the application and referred to the decision made by the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency on May 1. According to this decision, Kezerashvili did not meet one of the eligibility criteria. Specifically, the agency's decision was based on Section 212(a)(2)(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which pertains to "money laundering." Under Section 212(a)(2)(I), any person known or suspected of having participated in, currently participating in, or attempting to enter the United States to participate in money laundering will not be admitted to the United States.
On October 23, 2023, Davit Kezerashvili requested access to his immigration records from the State Department under the US Freedom of Information Act. Specifically, he requested copies of all documents, statements, materials, and/or negative information related to the May 1 decision of the Customs and Border Protection Agency. At the time of submitting the claim to the court, the State Department had not provided the requested information to Davit Kezerashvili, and the status of his request was indicated as "will be processed as quickly as possible."
According to the lawsuit, Davit Kezerashvili believes that the Freedom of Information Act was violated against him. According to this act, the State Department was obliged to respond to his request and inform him about the decision within 20 working days after receiving the request. Additionally, the lawsuit states that the State Department did not conduct an adequate search for the requested records and violated the plaintiff's legal right to obtain such records.
Davit Kezerashvili's name has surfaced in the case of fraudulent call centers. On April 12, 2023, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) published a journalistic investigation titled "Searching for the businessmen behind the billion-dollar fraud." According to the investigative material, the trail of the fraudulent companies ultimately led to Davit Kezerashvili. Kezerashvili himself stated that the accusations against him were slanderous and that a number of facts were deliberately distorted in the journalistic investigation. Following the publication of the investigation, Kezerashvili relinquished control of the Formula TV company and transferred 25% of his 51% share to the Freedom Formula union of the TV company's employees.
The former Minister of Defense of Georgia has been tried in absentia for embezzlement of state funds amounting to more than 5 million euros. According to the case materials, in 2008, Davit Kezerashvili signed a fictitious contract with Girwood Business Corp, a company registered in an offshore zone, and transferred 5 060 000 euros from the state budget. The Prosecutor's Office states that the combat training courses stipulated by the agreement were not conducted. In 2017, Davit Kezerashvili and Alexander Ninua, the former head of the procurement department of the Ministry of Defense, who were convicted together with him, were acquitted by the civil and appeal courts. The Supreme Court replaced the acquittal with a conviction and sentenced Kezerashvili to 10 years in prison, which was halved as a result of the amnesty.