Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, said on Tuesday that both national and international courts had ruled against Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, current leaders of the Lelo opposition party and former key figures in the consortium for Anaklia deep-sea port in the country’s north-west, in the controversial project. 

Papuashvili said in the ruling party headquarters that the Paris arbitration court concluded that the failure of the Anaklia project was due to the mismanagement by the Khazaradze-Japaridze company and not due to any actions by the state. He emphasized that the Government had not caused any damage to the company but rather, Khazaradze and Japaridze owe the state 650,000 USD.

"The Paris arbitration confirmed that the project's failure was entirely the fault of the Khazaradze-Japaridze company. They expected the state to guarantee their profit using public funds, creating a scheme where their profits were assured at the expense of Georgia’s citizens," said Papuashvili. He added that the government had extended project deadlines multiple times and forgiven more than 11 million USD in funds.

Papuashvili also addressed the criminal charges against Khazaradze and Japaridze, noting that they were found guilty of fraud by a legally binding verdict. He stressed that the Paris arbitration did not challenge this verdict and cited an incident where Khazaradze and Japaridze transferred 17 million USD to businessman Avto Tsereteli, “which was never repaid and was deemed a bad debt”.

Khazaradze issued a statement expressing disappointment with the arbitration decision, highlighting the loss of job opportunities and the halted development of the Anaklia port. 

Khazaradze criticized the government’s handling of the project and their plans to partner with a Chinese company of questionable reputation. He called for a pro-European coalition government to replace the current administration, promising to attract Western investors and complete the Anaklia project to high standards.