Georgia, Tbilisi, 28 July / Trend corr. N.Kirtskhalia/ At yesterday's Tbilisi Court hearing, Georgia's Labour Party was accused of money laundering. Party's activist Archil Benidze was sentenced to 2 months of imprisonment before trial.
Prosecutor's Office has a telephone record of the talks between Labourites' leader Shalva Natelashvili and an Israeli citizen Anatoliy Motkin - a partner of businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died last year. They talked about money transfer to private persons further to launder them in party's treasury. The sum is $100,000.
Benidze was detained on this very case. Along with three wanted party members, he received the money. Natelashvili is expected to be interrogated in near future.
The party disproved the accusations, stating there had been no telephone talk. "The accusations are faked and resemble the accusations of 1937, when people were detained for such absurd charges as digging of a tunnel from Bombay to London," ideological secretary of the party Giorgi Gugava said.
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