The FINANCIAL –According to Financial Times, Badri Patarkatsishvili, one of the richest businessmen in Georgia, was officially charged by prosecutors in Tbilisi with conspiring to overthrow the government and of plotting a "terrorist act" against a top official.
The charges come days after Mikheil Saakashvili, the pro-western president, won re-election in a snap poll, defeating Mr Patarkatsishvili and five other contenders. In the face of fierce protests by the opposition alleging ballot-rigging and unfair practices, Mr Saakashvili avoided a run-off by mustering 52 per cent of the votes, just above the threshold required for a first-round victory.
Mr Patarkatsishvili, a business partner of Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian billionaire, came third in the vote, with 6.9 per cent, despite spending part of his fortune on the costly campaign and western media advisers.
Levan Gachechiladze, heading a nine-party coalition, came second with 25.2 per cent.
The criminal case centres on secretly made audio recordings released by officials in the former Soviet republic late last year, in which Mr Patarkatsishvili allegedly offered $100m (€68m, £51m) to a senior government security official to unveil voter fraud and arrest Vano Merabishvili, the country's interior minister.
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