Georgian NGOs: Cash Trail for Detainee Fines Tricky to Track

How much does crime pay in Georgia? The Georgian government says that it is using fines collected from those prosecuted for corruption or unpaid taxes to finance President Mikhail Saakashvili's ambitious reform drive. The crackdown has won high praise from both the international community and most Georgian voters. But government watchdog groups contend that, in reality, no one knows where the millions in fines – an estimated 45.5 million Lari according to the most recent public figures -- have gone nor to what purpose they are being put.

The controversy first kicked off in April 2004 when Gia Jokhtaberidze, the son-in-law of ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze and founder of the cell phone company Magti, paid $15.5 million in damages after being arrested on charges of evading payment of 700,000 lari (about $390,000) in income taxes. After payment was made, Jokhtaberidze was released from pre-trial detention and the charges against him were dropped. Saakashvili stated that the money was needed to pay pensions and salary debts.

Before the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgians referred to defendants buying their way out of prosecution as simply "ransom" or "extortion." Prosecutors often pocketed the bulk of the cash.

Today, government officials say that fines such as those paid by Jokhtaveridze go to depleted state coffers instead of to personal pockets. But the cash trail is no less difficult to follow.

"No mechanism exists in society to control where the money goes," commented Nana Kakabadze, chairperson of the Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights non-governmental organization, and a frequent government critic.

Nor does the law itself provide an easy answer. When a person is arrested, the prosecutor can request house arrest, bail or a three-month pretrial detention for the defendant, no matter what the crime. The court has 72 hours to decide. But detention can be substituted for lighter measures if the defendant agrees to pay damages defined by the state.

According to Georgia's Criminal Code: "...while deciding which provisional pretrial measure should be used, the prosecutor and court take into account the gravity of the allegation, the personality of the defendant, his activities, age, health, material and family conditions, the fact of compensation by the accused of damages inflicted to [on] the victim..."

Ana Dolidze, chairperson of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, argues that the compensation for damages is a loophole prosecutors, acting as representatives of the state, use to acquire payments from defendants in cases where the state is deemed the victim of a crime. If a defendant pays the damages deemed to have been inflicted, this act will be taken into consideration when the prosecutor and judge decide how to proceed with a pre-trial measure.

"Let's say a tax inspector has been arrested," Dolidze explained, "and the prosecutor says