Five Russians were arrested in Georgia on charges of money laundering, announced the Deputy Head of the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance, Guga Tavberidze.
"The investigative service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, in coordinated cooperation with the Prosecutor General's Office, arrested five Russian citizens for illegal business activities and money laundering," he said.
According to the investigators, the involved company provided virtual asset services without registration or permission from the National Bank of Georgia. In recent months, it has carried out hundreds of millions of lari transactions, including international, unsupervised transactions.
Moreover, the defendants imported a large amount of foreign currency into Georgia, probably bypassing the border control. They used that money to acquire virtual assets and legalize unregistered property, but did not contribute anything to the budget.
