The city court suspended the powers of Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, Interfax reports with reference to the press service of the former party in power, the United National Movement, one of whose leaders is the mayor.

The decision was made after a preliminary hearing on the evening of December 21 to determine the preventive measure for Ugulave on the charges brought against him. The mayor is accused of embezzling public funds on an especially large scale.

It is reported that the court rejected the prosecutor's request for Ugulava's pre-trial detention, setting him bail at 50,000 lari (about $30,000). On Sunday night, the judge, without the presence of representatives of the prosecution and defense, also decided to suspend the powers of the mayor of Ugulava during the investigation.

Ugulava is going to protest the decision of the Tbilisi City Court to suspend his powers as mayor in the Constitutional Court of Georgia. According to him, as a law-abiding citizen, after receiving a court decision, he will transfer his powers to the first vice-mayor of Tbilisi Sevdia Ugrekhelidze.

At the end of February this year, Georgian investigative authorities officially charged Gigi Ugulava with embezzlement and money laundering. The official, in particular, is accused of fraud with the Imedi television company, its taking away from US citizen John Kay, and in another episode - providing fictitious work to activists of the United National Movement party and paying them salaries for campaign work. The mayor is also accused of embezzling 48 million lari (about $30 million). Investigators claim that Ugulava used these funds from the Development Fund not for the needs of the city, but to finance the 2012 parliamentary election campaign of the United National Movement.

Mayor of Tbilisi Ugulava temporarily suspended from office