The Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office’s Department for Procedural Supervision of Criminal Cases Involving Fraud has charged one person with fraudulently obtaining a large sum of money, as well as forging and using an official document. The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia reported this.

“An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs established that the accused presented himself to foreign nationals as a lawyer and, under the pretext of helping them obtain the right to reside and work in Georgia, received 58,000 lari from them, which he fully appropriated and used for personal purposes. After the victims raised claims against him, he produced a forged bank transfer document in an attempt to convince them that he had allegedly returned the money obtained through fraud.

Law enforcement officers arrested the accused based on a judge’s ruling. He was charged under subparagraph ‘b’ of Part 2 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (the production and use of a forged document resulting in significant damage) and subparagraph ‘b’ of Part 3 of Article 180 (fraud committed on a large scale), which carries a sentence of up to 9 years in prison.

Following a motion by the Prosecutor’s Office, the accused was remanded in custody as a preventive measure,” the statement said.