Georgia’s New Leader Strikes at Corruption

In an escalating crackdown on corruption in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, police using roadblocks and helicopters engaged in shootouts Wednesday with alleged smugglers. Authorities also said former President Eduard A. Shevardnadze might stand trial for corruption.

“Of course the personal safety of President Shevardnadze is guaranteed, but no one is above the law,” Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze said in a telephone interview from Tbilisi, the capital.

“He has all privileges that a former president of Georgia should have,” Baramidze said. “But if we discover rightfully, based on evidence, that he’s involved in criminal activities, we don’t see any reason to step back.”

Baramidze’s statement followed the arrest Tuesday of former Transportation Minister Merab Adeishvili on embezzlement charges, the latest in a string of detentions that have also included former officials responsible for taxes, energy and the railroads.

Shevardnadze, the onetime Soviet foreign minister respected in the West for his role in ending the Cold War, resigned as president in November after protests triggered by alleged election fraud and fueled by anger over the corruption many believe he allowed to flourish.

“A real war against the mafia is underway in Georgia, and it will be completed,” President Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters Tuesday. “Georgia belongs to the Georgian people rather than to bandits and bribers.”

Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer who took power last month on an anti-corruption platform, charged that millions of dollars were stolen from the railways every year.

“Everybody who looted money will be arrested,” he said in remarks quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax. He also called for a nationwide crackdown on gangs, saying, “If bandits resist, they will be eliminated on the spot.”

More than 40 people suspected of smuggling were held in Wednesday’s sweep of 12 locations in the Zugdidi district of western Georgia, said Baramidze, the interior minister. The activities in Zugdidi, which is near the Abkhazia region, help finance the separatist government there, he charged, saying one goal of the crackdown was to cut off that flow of money.

Police seized more than 50 automatic rifles and nine rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, as well as hand grenades and bullets, Baramidze said.

Abkhazia, with support from Russia, has exercised de facto independence since it broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s.

Saakashvili has said he intends to peacefully reunify the country, implying that he could achieve that through a combination of pressure and negotiations. Several thousand Russian peacekeepers patrol the boundary of the breakaway region.

The gunmen targeted in Wednesday’s crackdown pose as Georgian guerrillas opposed to Abkhazia’s separatist authorities, “but they are not patriots or guerrilla warriors, but simple criminals working with Abkhazian criminals selling petrol, cigarettes and drugs as well,” Baramidze said.

Akaki Mikadze, the Georgia-based correspondent for the Moscow News, a respected Russian weekly, said the Shevardnadze government had set up “semiofficial armed units” that were assisted by his armed forces in conducting sabotage in Abkhazia. He said the units had degenerated into smuggling outfits that were on good terms with the Russian peacekeepers.

“Their appetites have only been growing as time went by, and both sides have been blaming each other for this mayhem,” Mikadze said.

Four helicopters were used in the operation, and there were “considerable combat encounters between the police and the criminals,” Interior Ministry spokeswoman Natia Chikovani said. One suspect who attempted to escape was hurt, but no one was killed, she said.

Some of the helicopters landed near a Russian peacekeeping post, Interfax reported. “The Russians were not warned in advance, and took steps to defend themselves when the Georgian forces appeared,” it said, without offering further details.

Lt. Gen. Alexander Yevteyev, commander of the Russian-led peacekeeping force, which includes soldiers from other former Soviet republics, told Interfax that the Georgian sweep had violated understandings between the two countries.

“It’s not a big surprise to me that the Russians are commenting that way, because the so-called Russian peacekeepers are themselves involved in these smuggling operations and they are benefiting from it,” Baramidze said.

The stepped-up anti-crime campaign coincides with a visit to Tbilisi this week by an International Monetary Fund delegation to discuss conditions for a new three-year aid program. The IMF has signaled its willingness to consider new credits, but on condition that the government tighten its budget policies and crack down on corruption.

The IMF demand shows that the battle against corruption is the “wish and demand” of the world’s “civilized nations,” Baramidze said. “Arresting corrupt people is not a 100% guarantee for a bright future. But not arresting corrupt people is a 100% guarantee of failure.”

Yakov Ryzhak of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.