Grigol Liluashvili, head of the Georgian State Security Service and close confidant of Bidzina Ivanishvili said Otar Partskhaladze, the former Georgian Prosecutor General and an ally of Mr Ivanishvili has left Georgia.
The United States Government has sanctioned Mr Partskhaladze whom it referred to as a “Georgian-Russian oligarch” stating “the FSB have leveraged Partskhaladze to influence Georgian society and politics for the benefit of Russia.”
Mr Liluashvili a request for evidence was communicated to the US authorities through the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“A request was sent to the State Department, although we have not received any details at the moment,” Mr Liluashvili said mirroring Georgian Dream leaders consistently questioning the validity of the US Government targeting Mr Partskhaladze.
The SSG chief did not specify where exactly Mr Partskhaladze is referring to that as “personal information.” He later added, however, that the former Prosecutor General “might be” in Russia.
Georgian Dream Chair Irakli Kobakhidze had earlier questioned the validity of the US decision to sanction Mr Partskhaladze, demanding evidence.
GD Secretary General and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze also called the US to publicize the evidence. “The population deserves to know,” he said.
"Otar Parstkhaladze is a great guy," Irakli Zarqua, one of the top GD talking heads told a TV Pirveli.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) and its new acting governor, GD loyalist, and former Economy Minister Natia Turnava, hastily amended the NBG's regulations, making it impossible to apply the sanctions to Georgian citizens without a prior court ruling.
Right the next day, Mr Partskhaladze transferred his assets in Georgia to his son.
Openly pro-Putin forces and pundits denounced Partskhaladze’s sanctioning.
People’s Power a self-styled group of MPs linked with Mr Ivanishvili linked Mr Partskhaladze’s sanctioning with the conspiracy that the West is trying to “drag Georgia into war”:
“The Global War Party does not forgive Georgia for not opening up the second front [with Russia] and is trying in every possible way to change the government, for which it is actively using the US State Department" Guram Macharashvili, an Ivanishvili MPs said.
Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, anchor at the pro-Kremlin Sezoni TV denounced the US decision to sanction Partskhaladze, calling it unsubstantiated and lacking any evidence.
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