British Authorities Assign Investigative Team to Probe Georgian Tycoon's Sudden Death

Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian billionaire and a dedicated foe of President Mikheil Saakashvili, died suddenly late February 12 at his home outside London. News of his unexpected death is stoking controversy in Georgia. Meanwhile, British investigators have classified Patarkatsishvili's death as "suspicious."

The controversial Patarkatsishvili, 52, lived in exile in Leatherhead, Surrey, and reportedly suffered a massive heart attack. Police in Surrey told EurasiaNet that Patarkatsishvili died in "a large detached property, where he lived with his family."

A police spokesman said that in cases such as Patarkatsishvili's, in which the victim dies unexpectedly, authorities routinely treated the event as suspicious, pending autopsy results. But British media outlets reported that a Scotland Yard investigation team had been assigned to the case. "A post mortem is due to be held later [February 13] to establish the cause of death," Sarah Bailey, Surrey Police Spokeswoman told EurasiaNet. It could be weeks before final test results are known.

One motive for British authorities to take an aggressive investigatory approach in Patarkatsishvili's case is the ongoing controversy surrounding the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who died in November 2006 in London after being exposed to a lethal dose of a radioactive material, polonium-210. Before dying, Litvinenko implicated the Russian government in his murder. He called it retaliation for books that he wrote in which he asserted that a conspiracy by Russia's security service, the FSB, installed Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Britain's relations with Russia have gone into a deep freeze over the affair, as the Kremlin refuses to honor a British request to extradite Litvinenko's suspected killer. Patarkatsishvili's untimely death could potentially spark a new round of mutual recrimination between London and Moscow.

Patarkatsishvili's kin and friends asserted February 13 that he was in good health and has never had heart-related problems before. Patarkatsishvili, who was a candidate in the January presidential election won by Saakashvili, had said before that he feared for his life. Patarkatsishvili came in third in the race with a meager 7 percent of the vote. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Georgian opposition leaders, who allegedly benefited from Patarkatsishvili's financial support, largely refrained from speculating on the cause of his death, saying that they would wait until the forensic results were known before commenting. However, Salome Zourabichvili, of Georgia's Way opposition party told Mze television that she "doesn't believe in coincidences."

Former Imedi journalist Giorgi Targamadze, Patarkatsishvili's perceived right-hand man at the television station, told Rustavi2 that he believes that British investigators will be able to uncover all circumstances connected with the tycoon's death. "I spoke to him one month ago and then he had no health complaints," Targamadze added.

Meanwhile, Davit Gamrkelidze, leader of the New Rights Party told reporters did not appear to be in the mood, given recent political developments in Georgia, to speculate on what kind of impact Patarkatsishvili's death would have on developments in Tbilisi. "It has been hard to endure all the mud-slinging that has been going on here," he said.

Patarkatsishvili was a wanted man both in Georgia and in Russia. In late 2007, the Prosecutor's Office in Tbilisi brought coup charges against Patarkatsishvili for his role in the November demonstrations, which sparked a chain of events culminating in the declaration of a state of emergency by the Saakashvili administration. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The tycoon subsequently ignored a police summons, remaining instead in Britain.

Patarkatsishvili, who made his fortune in Russia during the early 1990s, amid the hurly burly early days of the privatization process, returned to Georgia after he and his ally financier Boris Berezovsky had run afoul of Putin. His Russia-based businesses included the nation's largest car manufacturer AvtoVaz and an oil company Sibneft. According to some reports, he saw Berezovsky, who also lives in exile in Britain, shortly before his death.

Upon return to Georgia, the silver-haired Patarkatsishvili took up residence in a futuristic riverside castle in Tbilisi, which used to house a state matrimonial agency. In the Georgian capital, he was known for making substantial investments in sports-related entities and in amusement parks. He also made large donations to charity.

In Russia, Patarkatsishvili at different periods of time was deputy director general of state ORT television, owned private broadcaster TV6 and the prominent business daily Kommersant. In Georgia, he established the Imedi broadcasting company, which now finds itself the target of a wide-ranging government investigation. As part of that probe, government investigators are trying to determine the precise role that media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. played in Imedi's operations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In the spring of 2006, Patarkatsishvili aired public complaints about Georgia's business environment, leading to a messy falling out with Saakashvili. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Mutual animosity reached the point in 2007 that the tycoon became a major funder of opposition parties and causes. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Last September former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili accused Saakashvili of conspiring to assassinate Patarkatsishvili. Okruashvili, who subsequently was apprehended on corruption charges, retracted the accusation while in official custody. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Patarkatsishvili's Imedi TV station had been sharply critical of Saakashvili's administration until it was closed down during a November 7 police raid. Yielding to mounting international pressure, the Georgian government permitted Imedi to resume news broadcasts. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. But after the Interior Ministry released in December a recording, in which Patarkatsishvili purportedly tries to bribe a high-ranking Georgian Interior Ministry official to help overthrow the Saakashvili administration, a group of journalists quit Imedi and the station again stopped broadcasting. In the recording, Patarkatsishvili expressed a desire to "neutralize" Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, adding ominously that "it is in Georgia that they think I'm a kind grandpa, they should track my background in Russia."

Patarkatsishvili's death may only add to tensions in Georgia. Some commentators suggested that it will hamstring the financially-starved opposition. "His own party is the one that was dealt the most severe blow," independent political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze told EurasiaNet.