On May 21, 2013, Merabishvili and Zurab Tchiaberashvili, governor of Kakheti and former Minister of Health, were arrested in connection to an investigation into alleged misspending of GEL 5.2 million public funds on their party activists during the 2012 election campaign, leading to accusations of political vendetta leveled by the United National Movement against the Ivanishvili government. On February 17, 2014 Merabishvili was sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of abuse of office, bribery of voters and inefficient use of budget funds. The Merabishvili defense team appealed the sentence. The opposition said it was a witch hunt of the former government. In September 2016 Merabishvili was further sentenced to 6,5 years in prison on charges of ordering the beating of the opposition parliament member Valeri Gelashvili.