TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian professional footballer who ended his career to join politics has appealed the seizure of his bank accounts.

But the appeals court says it will process the appeal “without an oral hearing”, which means that there will not be a court hearing; rather the court will make its decision, and then Kaladze will receive an answer within 48 hours.

Also on Friday, it emerged why the prosecutor had gone to such a step as to seize all his bank accounts:

The reason is that after 6 million lari was deposited on his accounts, he has spent money much of the money on other things than bank statements indicate are his household needs; almost twice that amount.

“During the last few months, Kaladze has withdrawn 1.6 million lari from his bank accounts, step by step, without the money being deposited on any other bank accounts. Neither does there exist documentation of any civil contract [investments, property purchase, ed.] indicating this amount. Bank accounts show that 900 000 lari was spent on household needs,”a statement by the prosecutor’s office said, and concluded that in accordance with Georgian law and international standards to combat money laundering, an investigation is necessary in order to examine this large quantity of cash – 1.6 million lari. Therefore Kaladze’s bank accounts were taken control of.

The former professional football player for AC Milan calls this political persecution without any legal basis, and today stated that he is ready to present detailed information about what the six million lari was spent on.