By empty (6/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Diana Abashidze, the daughter of former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze, has left Batumi. \"If Georgian law enforcement agencies have questions for me, my lawyer Eka Beseliya will answer them,\" she told reporters before leaving Batumi. The Ajarian financial police told Interfax on Friday that the authorities would not prevent Abashidze from leaving Batumi.
Diana Abashidze, the daughter of former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze, has left Batumi. \"If Georgian law enforcement agencies have questions for me, my lawyer Eka Beseliya will answer them,\" she told reporters before leaving Batumi. The Ajarian financial police told Interfax on Friday that the authorities would not prevent Abashidze from leaving Batumi. Diana Abashidze has been given materials indicating that firms registered to her in Batumi owe the state some $22 million, a financial police officer said. \"If this debt is not repaid, all the real estate and the firms owned by the Abashidze family will be sold at auction,\" he said. The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed concerns about the situation surrounding Diana Abashidze. \"The situation surrounding Aslan Abashidze\'s daughter raises serious concerns with Moscow,\" Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told a Friday news conference in Moscow. He said Russia is hoping that Tbilisi will fulfill its promise not to persecute the Abashidze family. (Interfax)