Georgian opposition says Saakashvili family embezzled $90 mln

13/01/2009 17:08 TBILISI, January 13 (RIA Novosti) – A member of Georgia’s opposition Labor Party on Tuesday accused the family of President Mikheil Saakashvili of embezzling some $90 million from the state budget.

Kakha Dzaganiya said the money was intended to provide medical insurance for people with low incomes, but had been misappropriated through the Irao insurance company owned by the president’s brother.

He said Irao was not fulfilling its obligations and did not allocate money for the medical care of the poor, while hospitals refuse to accept the company’s policies.

“The Labor Party intends to inform the World Health Organization of this situation and ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to launch an investigation to find out where 140 million lari [$90 million] disappeared to,” he said.

The U.S.-educated president has sought to integrate the ex-Soviet state into Europe and to curb Russian influence on the country since he came to power on the heels of the peaceful Rose Revolution in 2003.


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