Players Hope Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Drive Will Help Clean Up National Sport

Soccer players have been one of Georgia's most successful export commodities of late. At leading English club Manchester City, midfield maestro Georgi Kinkladze remains a cult hero more than five years after leaving the team. And in recent times, other Georgian players – Shota Arveladze, Georgi Nemsadze, Zurab Khizanishvili and Temuri Ketsbaia to name several – have prospered in Britain, Germany and Holland.

Georgia's strong soccer tradition stretches back to the Soviet era. For decades, Georgians accounted for a disproportionately large number of players on Soviet national teams, including legends such as David Kipiani. And Dinamo Tbilisi fans still recall a golden era when their club defeated some of Europe's best teams to win the 1981 European Cup Winners Cup.

These days though, a darker side of Georgian soccer tends to overshadow the game on the field. It reared its head most recently last December, when Merab Jhordania, head of the local Football Federation, was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion – taken into custody as he tried to depart from Tbilisi for Paris. The charge stemmed from his tenure as president of one of Georgia's top teams, Dynamo Tbilisi. In January, a repentant Jhordania reached a settlement on a tax payment and was released from custody.

The sleaze that permeates Georgian soccer, underscored by the Jhordania arrest, is just the thin tip of the wedge. The sport in Georgia is a risky business, and the stakes can be very high for all involved.

The Kaladze family know this better than most. Perhaps Georgia's most successful export ever, Kakha Kaladze, has been a regular fixture at left back for AC Milan since his move from Dynamo Kiev in 2001. The transfer fee of roughly $17 million set a record for a Georgian player. Last year, he helped the Italians win the Champions League, Europe's premier tournament. His achievements over the years have earned him much acclaim back home, but not all of the attention has been welcome.

In May 2001, Kakha's brother, Levan was kidnapped by an armed gang in the Georgian capital. The incident could be considered part of a broader pattern, in which criminals target members of Georgia's political, economic and sporting elites with aim of securing large ransoms. In the Kaladze case, the abductors demanded a ransom of around $600,000. Despite Kakha's agreement to pay, and despite the personal intervention of Italian Prime Minister (and AC Milan owner) Silvio Berlusconi, efforts to secure Levan's release failed.

At one point, disgusted at what he felt to be the empty efforts of the Georgian authorities to negotiate his brother's release, Kakha threatened to boycott the Georgian national team. "It's disgusting," he said at one point, "that every Georgian official considered it necessary to declare his personal participation to help find him [Levan] but their interest is nothing but populism."

The kidnapping may be the highest-profile incident to blight the game in recent years, but it has not been the only one to touch the sport. In November 2002, in the Georgian capital, ex-Dinamo Tbilisi player and coach Kakha Asatiani, who had also previously been minister of sport and culture was killed in a drive-by shooting. Authorities believe his murder is mostly connected to his activities as vice-president of Georgia's Airzena airline. But other incidents have more clearly been soccer-related. Last May, for example, Georgian Under-21 defender Sergo Orbeladze was shot in the leg by masked gunmen while walking near his home in Tbilisi.

Orbeladze, who played for Lokomotiv Tbilisi, was tipped by many to be a future star of the senior national side. Some soccer analysts in Tbilisi suggested that the attack was connected to a dispute over a proposed transfer, and the division of the related spoils. What is certain is that it was no random act of violence. The Orbeladze shooting was a virtual carbon copy of earlier attacks on ex-internationals Mamuka Tsereteli and Akaki Devadze.

Almost three years since his abduction, Levan remains missing. However, according to Kakha, there could finally be good news on the horizon. In a sudden new development, the kidnappers now seem willing to let their captive go. "I have spoken to the authorities in Georgia recently," revealed the Milan player in late December, "and it is 90 per cent sure my brother is still alive."

Those connected with the sport, especially the players, feel the recent political changes in Georgia -- in which Saakashvili has replaced Eduard Shevardnadze as Georgian president -- will have a beneficial effect on soccer. Saakashvili has vowed to curb official corruption and criminal activity in the country. In recent weeks his new administration has opened a broad anti-corruption offensive that has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. Indeed, Jhordania was among the first caught up in Saakashvili's crackdown on graft.

The reach of the anti-corruption drive is continuing to spread. According to a February 4 report broadcast by Imedi television, Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze said that he had obtained "serious evidence" of embezzlement by senior Defense Ministry officials. Defense Minister David Tevzadze downplayed the possibility of an investigation, saying there had to be "some kind of misunderstanding," the Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Transport and Communications Minister Merab Adeishvili was taken into custody on February 3 on charges of improperly manipulating cargo rates, causing "major financial losses" in revenue for state coffers, the Kavkasia-Press news agency reported.

Many soccer players are welcoming the anti-corruption crackdown. Glasgow Ranger's Georgian international Shota Arveladze, for one, says he is rooting for Saakashvili's campaign to succeed.

"Under Shevardnadze things were improving, but far too slowly," Arveladze said. "Nobody can dismiss what Shevardnadze achieved – this was the man who helped change the face of the world [as Soviet foreign minister]. ... "But we needed someone new to come in – someone who could be decisive and refuse to compromise. Nobody really knew what Shevardnadze's plans were any more."

"I know Saakashvili personally," Arveladze continued. "He loves football and knows how important it is for Georgia."