Ex-UNM Defense Ministry Official Megis Kardava Sentenced to 11 Years (Reduced to 5.5) for 2012 Embezzlement

Tbilisi City Court sentenced Megis Kardava — a controversial former head of the Defense Ministry's Military Police Department who was wanted since 2013, detained in Ukraine in 2017 and extradited in 2021 — to 11 years for embezzling 768,107 Georgian Lari in covert operational funds requested from then-Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia between November 2011 and August 2012, converting roughly $200,000 for personal use while falsifying documents to conceal it. The term was reduced to 5 years and 6 months under Georgia's 2012 Amnesty Law.