Georgian Defense Minister Distances Himself From Corruption Scandal

In his first public comments on the topic, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili distanced himself from a corruption scandal in the Shida Kartli region that has embroiled a political protégé. Okruashvili also downplayed the notion that the scandal is a linked to a power struggle between Georgia's defense and interior ministries.

The corruption scandal erupted March 13, when the president sacked over 20 top police officials in Shida Kartli, a region bordering Georgia's renegade territory of South Ossetia. Among those dismissed was regional police chief Aleko Sukhitashvili—whose offices were targeted in a February 1 car bombing that killed three and injured dozens. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The dismissed officers, characterized by President Mikheil Saakashvili as the "Gori police mafia," are suspected of involvement in smuggling operations, facilitating the entry of contraband into Georgia proper from South Ossetia. Saakashvili administration officials have often described South Ossetia as a smuggling center. The president, in a televised address, said he would "personally supervise" the ongoing investigation, and charged the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor-General's office "to precisely probe" Shida Kartli police activities. Already, three law-enforcement officials in the region have been arrested in connection with the scandal.

The scope of the investigation could extend beyond the police. Local politicians -- in particular Shida Kartli Governor Mikheil Kareli, a Saakashvili appointee – have already come under public scrutiny.

Kareli served as deputy governor when Okruashvili briefly held the top political post in Shida Kartli from December 2003 to January 2004. Together they launched a crackdown on smuggling activities in Shida Kartli just weeks after the Rose Revolution drove former president Eduard Shevardnadze from power in November 2003. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Okruashvili, who went on to serve as prosecutor general and interior minister, was responsible for Kareli's appointment as governor.

Given the suspicion now leveled at Kareli, some Georgian political analysts wonder whether Okruashvili was aware of the illicit activities taking place in the region. But in a March 16 interview with EurasiaNet, Okruashvili's response to suggestions that he had knowledge of the police smuggling ring was a succinct: "No."

Echoing earlier statements by Saakashvili and Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, Okruashvili went on to state that he is "sure [that] Kareli is not involved."

"I am fully responsible for him and his work. I recommended his appointment to the president and I am sure he is not involved in illegal activities," Okruashvili insisted. Merabishvili and Deputy Governor Gela Zoziashvili have both stated that Kareli is guilty of only blind trust in officials who lied to him.

Despite such support, many local political analysts say the corruption scandal still could cost the governor his job. Since the March 13 arrests, Kareli has been tasked by Saakashvili with coordination of the investigation into the racket.

In a March 14 interview with the daily newspaper 24 Hours, Kareli claimed that smuggling had been "rooted out by 90 percent," and that in the past year 250 regional policemen had been fired for links to the trade. "I have to fight not only with smugglers, but also with the policemen who assist them," he said.

Okruashvili, however, termed "absurd" allegations that link Kareli and dismissed regional police chief Sukhitashvili in a smuggling ring. "Being close to Sukhitashvili does not mean you are responsible," he said. Okruashvili described the former Shida Kartli police boss as "a professional," who "knew his job better than [the] others," but avoided further comment on Sukhitashvili's alleged role in the contraband racket.

"It is not clear at the moment if there is sufficient evidence against Sukhitashvili," Okruashvili went on to say. "I don't know what the prosecutor will say. And to avoid rumors and gossip I am not going to be involved."

In March 13 statements to Rustavi-2 television, Sukhitashvili denied any involvement in the smuggling ring and predicted that "[t]he investigation will show everything."

Vladimir Jugheli, a former head of the Interior Ministry's special operations division, was immediately assigned to Sukhitashvili's position. In a March 15 interview in his office in Gori, Shida Kartli's capital, Jugheli stated that he expects to staff district forces with new, "qualified and honest" law enforcement officers "within a week."

"Contraband is seen as the source of life here," Jugheli explained. "Our first duty is to explain to the population that contraband is a criminal activity and that it is possible to live without contraband. I make no difference between criminal activities and smuggling," he said. "But the population sees things differently."

Newspaper reports have suggested that Interior Minister Merabishvili and Okruashvili are involved in a power struggle connected with the Shida Kartli corruption probe and accompanying personnel changes.

In March 13 comments broadcast by Imedi TV, Kareli suggested that Interior Ministry officials were seeking to come up with compromising material against him. One of the Shida Kartli police officers now in custody, Beso Giorgashvili, revealed that Interior Ministry investigators pressed him, prior his arrest, to implicate Kareli in smuggling operations, according to the Imedi report.

"It is clear to me who is behind all this, and who is trying to tarnish my reputation by making slanderous allegations against me," Kareli told the Imedi TV interviewer.

Both Okruashvili and the interior minister, Merabishvili, have denied struggling for control over personnel appointments in Shida Kartli. "Merabishvili is replacing people in Shida Kartli and I won't interrupt the process," Okruashvili told EurasiaNet. "This is his decision. I would never advise him. I would never tell him what he should or should not do."

The defense minister insisted that he is no longer involved in the Shida Kartli's smuggling issue, or with related issues concerning South Ossetia. "For the last six months—in order to prevent any problems from arising with my visits [to Shida Kartli], to avoid being called