Former Georgian Security Chief Grigol Liluashvili Sentenced to 13 Years for Bribery

Tbilisi Court Convicts Former Security Chief on All Four Charges

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Grigol Liluashvili, the former head of Georgia's State Security Service, to 13 years in prison after convicting him on all four bribery episodes presented by prosecutors. Judge Nino Tarashvili delivered the verdict in a case that had carried a possible sentence of 11 to 15 years. Liluashvili was arrested on 23 December of the previous year and has consistently denied the charges.

The court's findings span several distinct schemes. In one episode, prosecutors said Liluashvili took a US$1 million bribe in October 2022 from Turkish investor Çağatay Ülker, allegedly routed through then deputy economy minister Romeo Mikautadze, to push for a cooperation memorandum linked to wind power plant construction.

Other episodes involve gasification tenders and fraudulent call centres. In February 2022, Liluashvili was found to have demanded and received 1.5 million Georgian lari from Giorgi Khajalia, founder of Expressservis 2008, in exchange for assistance with gasification tenders. Between 2021 and 2023, prosecutors said, he protected fraudulent call centres in Georgia through his relative Sandro Liluashvili and received around US$1.365 million in bribes. A fourth episode involved protection for his friend Kakha Gvantseladze, former head of Tbilisi's kindergarten management agency, who allegedly took large sums from entrepreneurs in connection with procurement contracts.

Liluashvili's denial leaves an appeal as a likely next step, but the verdict marks a rare public conviction of a former head of the country's main security service.

The Liluashvili Verdict and Georgia's Corruption Fault Lines

The State Security Service's leadership problem

The conviction directly attaches bribery to the office that was supposed to oversee state security and counterintelligence. A former head being found guilty of taking bribes while in post is not just an individual legal matter; it raises hard questions about how procurement, sensitive economic negotiations and law-enforcement information were managed inside the service.

Energy and infrastructure deals as bribery channels

The wind-power memorandum and gasification tender episodes show that corruption allegations reached into investor-facing economic policy. The court accepted that Liluashvili used a deputy economy minister as an intermediary for a US$1 million payment tied to wind power, and that a gasification company paid 1.5 million lari for tender help. For foreign and domestic companies, those findings may make Georgian energy and municipal infrastructure processes look more exposed to informal payments, even when formal rules exist.

Call-centre fraud and cross-border risk

The third episode links the former security chief to protection of fraudulent call centres that often target victims abroad. That is a distinct reputational risk: it suggests a security agency was allegedly sheltering organized fraud networks, which can complicate Georgia's relationships with foreign banks, payment processors and law-enforcement agencies that pursue call-centre scams.

The conviction is likely to be interpreted in two ways. Some will see it as evidence that the judicial system can hold senior security officials accountable. Others may treat it as a politically driven prosecution. The source material records only the court's ruling and the prosecution's case; it does not resolve that debate.

Compliance Lessons From the Liluashvili Bribery Episodes

For investors, contract participants and compliance teams, the case provides specific bribery episodes to examine rather than abstract corruption warnings.

• Energy and infrastructure investors should review intermediaries in wind-power and gasification deals named in the verdict, including the role of former deputy economy minister Romeo Mikautadze and the US$1 million payment episode from investor Çağatay Ülker.
• Companies bidding on gasification or municipal procurement in Georgia should document that engagement with public officials is handled through transparent channels; the court's finding on Expressservis 2008 founder Giorgi Khajalia and kindergarten procurement makes those areas concrete compliance risk zones.
• Firms involved in or contracting with Georgian call centres should expect heightened due diligence from banks and international partners after the verdict described protection money flowing from fraudulent call-centre networks to the security service.