In Georgia, former State Security Service chief Grigol Liluashvili has been arrested in a case linked to fraudulent call centers. Prosecutors say that in 2021–2023 he received a $1.365 million bribe for protecting scammers. The former security chief faces 11 to 15 years in prison.
Liluashvili spent nearly ten years in the government of Georgian Dream and resigned only in April. The opposition had long accused him of ties to an international cyberfraud network. Back in 2022, the TV channels Mtavari and Formula published investigations into Tbilisi call centers whose staff posed as brokers and financial advisers, persuaded people to invest, and then withdrew money from European victims’ accounts.
In March this year, OCCRP and Georgian media partners released another investigation into two Tbilisi call centers run by A.K. Group. According to the report, the scammers convinced more than 32,000 people to invest at least $275 million. The two offices in the Saburtalo district alone allegedly extracted more than $35 million from over 6,100 victims between May 2022 and February 2025.
“If the prosecutor’s office is to be believed, then until 2023 the call centers were under the State Security Service. But we publish such reports almost every month. It is interesting who owns these new offices,” Formula journalist David Kashiashvili said.
Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze also claimed that proceeds from the call centers were used to finance opposition media, but journalists from those outlets reacted with skepticism. The opposition argues that the arrests inside Georgian Dream reflect not an anti-corruption campaign but a clan struggle within the ruling elite around Bidzina Ivanishvili. Former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has also come under criminal investigation.
Liluashvili’s lawyer said his client denies guilt, insists there is no direct evidence against him, and is only now reviewing the case materials.