According to the Ministry of Finance’s Investigation Service, citizens of Kazakhstan have been detained for violating customs regulations as part of an alleged scheme involving an organized group.
The agency reported that, as a result of investigative actions, three individuals were detained on December 3, 2025, for circumventing customs regulations and secretly disposing of a particularly large amount of crude oil as part of an organized scheme at the Georgian customs border.
“The investigation found that the management of Batumi Oil Terminal LLC had disposed of more than 10,000 tons of undeclared crude oil, valued at over GEL 15 million, in the terminal’s reservoirs, bypassing customs procedures and concealing the violations,” reads a statement from the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance.
According to the investigation, the detainees placed unusable, contaminated oil waste in the tanks of the customs terminal to conceal the crime.
The Investigative Service added that, investigative actions are ongoing to identify and detain other members of the criminal group, as well as to reveal the facts of further disposal of the smuggled oil. The charges brought against the detainees provide for a term of imprisonment of 11 to 15 years. The investigative body of the Ministry of Finance is conducting the investigation under Parts 2 and 6 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code, which concerns violation of the rules related to the movement of goods across the customs border of Georgia.
Information about the detainees is still unknown due to the interests of the investigation. Batumi Oil Terminal LLC itself refrains from disseminating personal data about the accused. According to the company, in order to protect the confidentiality of the investigation and in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, the firm will not make any additional comments.
“Batumi Oil Terminal LLC informs you that all employees of the terminal are at their workplace. The terminal carries out its activities within the framework of Georgian legislation. The legal interests and rights of the terminal and its employees are fully protected. In order to protect the confidentiality of the investigation and in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, Batumi Oil Terminal LLC refrains from making any additional comments,” the company said in a statement.
The information about the entry of the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance and the State Security Service into the company was initially disseminated by the publication Batumelebi. The publication wrote on December 4 that, due to the investigative actions of the agencies at the oil terminal, a large part of the railway transportation had been suspended since the night of December 3.
According to information provided anonymously to Batumelebi by an employee of the company, the investigation had questions regarding several reservoirs. The Financial Police and the State Security Service entered the terminal simultaneously, special forces were also present on site, and transportation was partially stopped. A total of 21 people, including managers, were taken in for questioning.
For context, 100% of the shares of Batumi Oil Terminal LLC have been owned by the Kazakh state-owned oil company KazTransOil since 2008. According to an extract from the register of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurial legal entities, the company’s General Director is Farkhat Tashibayev, a citizen of Kazakhstan. In addition, KazTransOil is a subsidiary of KazMunayGas JSC.
According to the Batumi Oil Terminal website, the company provides transportation services for crude oil and oil products to clients from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, and other countries.
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