Prosecution has filed a motion asking the Tbilisi City Court to order pre-trial detention for Tbilisi mayor, Gigi Ugulava, who has been charged without being arrested with misspending of GEL 48.18 million (about USD 28.2 million) of public money.

Prosecution has also requested the court to suspend Ugulava from his mayoral post.
 
The Tbilisi City Court will start hearing into the prosecution’s motion on Saturday evening.

Ugulava’s defense lawyers say prosecution’s motion is “completely groundless.” Ugulava denies charges filed against him as politically motivated.

When in February, 2013 Ugulava was charged with misspending of large amount of public funds and money laundering into two separate cases, unrelated to his recent charges, prosecutors asked the court to order GEL 1 million bail as a measure of restraint against Ugulava; at the time prosecutors were also asking for suspending Ugulava from the office; the motion was declined by the court.