Irina Sarishvili, a leader of the Imedi (Hope) political party affiliated with wanted ex-security chief Igor Giorgadze’s Justice Party, has been released after 8 hours of interrogation.

Georgian law enforcers detained Sarishvili and her two companions after they crossed the border from Armenia on the afternoon of February 5.

Sarishvili told reporters after the release that she and her two companions were carrying USD 58 000 which they did not declare during customs clearance procedures. Earlier reports said that 300 grams of undeclared gold was also seized from Sarishvili, but the latter said the gold belonged to a taxi driver who was transporting it from Armenia to Georgia. The taxi driver remains under detention.

After Sarishvili’s arrest, an influential parliamentarian from the ruling National Movement Party Givi Targamadze said that the case was important from a political point of view.

“It is absolutely clear to everyone: Sarishvili was returning from Moscow [where wanted ex-security chief Igor Giorgadze is based] via Armenia with USD 58 000,” MP Targamadze, who chairs the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security, told Rustavi 2 television late on February 5.

But Sarishvili denied that she was in Moscow.

“I was in Yerevan and this money was for my family and my two friends’ families,” Sarishvili told reporters after she was released.

MP Targamadze also said that Russia has recently shifted its attention from Giorgadze’s allies to other political forces in Georgia.

“I mean politicians like Gocha Jojua, who recently has questioned Georgia’s aspirations into NATO; also Irakli Melashvili,” MP Targamadze said.

He was referring to two politicians from the newly-created National Forum partyled by Kakha Shartava, a newcomer to Georgian politics.

MP Gocha Jojua has denied Targamadze’s allegations as groundless.

“This is a very strange allegation. I have only asked a question: how can Georgia benefit from integration into NATO, and that’s all,” MP Jojua told Imedi television late on February 5.

“This is a very easy way to avoid our legitimate questions. When the authorities have no answers they start smearing of opponents by labeling them as Russian spies,” Irakli Melashvili told Imedi TV on February 6.