Georgia: Jailed Former Prime Minister Blowing Whistle On Former Colleagues


Georgia's Bidzina Ivanishvili (left) and Irakli Garibashvili. (Photo: Bidzina Ivanishvili's Facebook page)

September 25, 2026
By Eurasianet

Key Takeaways:

The author reads ex-PM Irakli Garibashvili’s mid-August prison posts as a break with Bidzina Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream: he says he was pushed “on Ivanishvili’s instruction” to incriminate himself, sat through a January money-laundering conviction out of loyalty, then got a July letter asking for a public guilty plea—his “red line.” He had two PM terms (2013–15, 2021–24) and was defense minister (2019–21).

Late August: a new charge he pocketed almost €300,000 on defense contracts. Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze called the letters “political speculation.” Former defense minister Juansher Burchuladze’s 10-year term cut to five (two of house arrest) is framed as possible testimony against him. Ex-State Security chief Grigol Liluashvili got 13 years on Sept. 16 on four graft counts.

Piece’s line: no GD lieutenant is safe; faction fights are “politically lethal”; Ivanishvili’s off-stage hold looks total. Commentary on alleged power struggles, not a court finding.

(Eurasianet) — A Georgian jailbird has started to sing, accusing the country’s political impresario, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, and other officials of setting him up to take a fall on corruption charges.

Former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has languished in prison following a January conviction on a money-laundering charge. In mid-August, Garibashvili decided to speak out about his conviction, posting a statement on social media accusing leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party of pressuring him “on Ivanishvili’s instruction” to make incriminating statements.

Garibashvili followed initial statement up with a second blockbuster post in which he said a nominal government anti-corruption campaign was specifically tailored to “imprison and politically destroy” him. He went on to state that he remained silent out of a sense of loyalty to Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream establishment.

“I did everything possible to avoid a confrontation with my team and with a person dear to me. Precisely for this reason, I declined to engage in a legal battle and submitted to a process that was personally devastating, all to avoid harming the interests of the state and the team,” he wrote.

In July, Garibashvili went on, a Georgian Dream go-between delivered a letter to him in prison, reportedly asking him to make a public admission of guilt relating to the January case. At that time, he made a plea deal under which he tacitly admitted to the crime, but he never made an explicit acknowledgement. The idea behind the letter, from Garibashvili’s viewpoint, was to force him to take responsibility for a crime he feels he didn’t commit, thus preventing any chance of his return to politics.

Garibashvili recounted that this request crossed “a red line that compelled me to take the most difficult step of my life. … I am being forced to begin a fight.”

It did not take long for Georgian Dream to punch back hard. In late August, prosecutors brought a fresh corruption charge against him, accusing him of pocketing almost 300,000 euros to help fix some defense contracts.

Garibashvili’s tell-all notes are noteworthy on several levels. Garibashvili was once seen as Ivanishvili’s most trusted lieutenant. He served two stints as Georgian prime minister (2013-15 and 2021-24), sandwiched around a turn as the country’s defense minister (2019-21). His downfall is evidence that no member of Georgian Dream’s leadership should feel secure, not only in their positions, but in their freedom.

The episode also lays bare the inner workings of Georgian Dream, exposing factional infighting and turf battles that have politically lethal consequences for the losers. It also indicates that Ivanishvili’s influence behind the scenes is absolute.

Top government officials have lambasted Garibashvili’s statements. Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze dismissed Garibashvili’s calls for a formal investigation. “The allegations raised in the letters … are entirely groundless and amount to political speculation by a former teammate,” Kaladze told reporters in early September.


Garibashvili is far from the only casualty in the ongoing power struggles within Georgian Dream. The list of erstwhile Ivanishvili acolytes who now find themselves out of favor or even on the wrong side of the law includes former ministers, MPs and business executives.

The situation is such that those now on Ivanishvili’s ‘enemies list’ are turning on each other in an effort to get back into the power broker’s good graces. Former defense minister Juansher Burchuladze, for example, recently had his 10-year sentence cut to five years (including two years of house arrest), apparently in exchange for testimony against Garibashvili in support of the new corruption charge.

Meanwhile, former State Security Service chief Grigol Liluashvili received a 13-year sentence on September 16 after being found guilty on four counts of graft.