Georgia: Final Farewell to a Robber Baron and a Philanthropist

More than a fortnight after his death in the United Kingdom, legendary Georgian billionaire and onetime presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili was laid to rest at his palatial residence in Tbilisi on February 28. Though now buried, the controversies that surrounded the tycoon and his business dealings promise to linger on.

Scores of Georgians pushed their way through the guarded gate of Patarkatsishvili's hillside Tbilisi mansion to pay final respects to the man known by Georgians as both a philanthropist and a robber baron. A giant picture of the white-haired mogul hung overhead from a tower of the house, a castle named "Arcadia," a play on Patarkatsishvili's formal first name, Arkadi.

To the applause of tearful mourners, the businessman, who placed third in Georgia's January presidential race with 7.1 percent of the vote, was buried late in the afternoon. US Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft, a group of Israeli diplomats and Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarch Ilia II were among the dignitaries who attended the memorial.

Several high-ranking allies of President Mikheil Saakashvili were also on hand, including Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Uguluva, who had previously described Patarkatsishvili as "a devil." Foreign Minister Davit Bakradze and State Minister for Reintegration Issues Temur Iakobahsvili were also in attendance. The president himself, a onetime ally-turned-arch-enemy, extended succinct condolences to the tycoon's family, but did not attend the funeral.

Former presidential candidate and opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze and ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze, who granted Patarkatsishvili safe haven in Georgia after he fled Russia in 2001, eulogized the late tycoon as a "great patriot" whose death, in Shevardnadze's words, "is a grave loss" for Georgia.

Yet while the laying-to-rest passed uneventfully, a wreath near the tycoon's coffin in the shape of the logo of television station Imedi served as a reminder of one of the largest issues left unresolved by Patarkatsishvili's death. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Founded by the tycoon in 2002, Imedi was shut down by government forces for allegedly sparking unrest during Tbilisi's November 2007 protests. The station later reopened, before voluntarily closing in late December, amidst staff unease with the release of audio recordings that allegedly revealed Patarkatsishvili planning a government coup with an interior ministry official. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Despite repeated reports since that Imedi's reopening was imminent, the station, more than two months later, remains closed. A public hearing to discuss a potential broadcast license suspension was postponed earlier this month following Patarkatsishvili's death.

The identity of the person or company that will now take over the tycoon's shares in Imedi remains unclear. The details of Patarkatsishvili's will remain under wraps, but Georgian media have suggested that his estate will be split among his wife and other family members.

In a February 27 interview with the pro-opposition daily Rezonansi, the tycoon's sister, Nana Patarkatsishvili, stated that her brother's wife would take on Badri Patarkatsishvili's stake in Imedi. According to Nana Patarkatsishvili, no plans exist to sell the shares.

The late Patarkatsishvili had reportedly been in talks with News Corps about a potential handover of his shares in Imedi to Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Although the company had earlier been presented as holding a stake in Imedi, documents from the Georgian National Communications Commission have indicated that News Corp never owned shares in the broadcasting company. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. News Corp representatives have declined to discuss the matter.

Imedi Executive Director Bidzina Baratashvili has announced that talks with News Corp about Imedi "will be resumed next week," Rezonansi reported. Both Baratashvili and News Corp's representative in the Caucasus, Lewis Robertson, declined to speak with EurasiaNet about the status of the negotiations.

According to Mze television, the head of News Corp's European operations, Martin Pompadour, and Rupert Murdoch's son, James, were also present at the February 28 burial.

Patarkatsishvili's other assets in Georgia, including a mountaintop amusement park in Tbilisi and his bank accounts remain frozen by court order. The General Prosecutor's Office, however, has recently indicated that the freeze may be lifted shortly, local media have reported.

But to many of the mourners standing in line to view the businessman's body lying in the center of a pavilion decorated with flowers, drapery and massive stone menorahs, these details mattered little. "All of this slander killed him," whispered one middle-aged woman to a fellow mourner.

Although the British postmortem examination found that Patarkatsishvili died from a heart attack, some of his supporters still suspect foul play. "The final results of [the ongoing forensic examination] will be political, not factual," parliamentarian Gocha Jojua, a former Patarkatsishvili campaign manager, claimed in televised remarks on February 27.

In Britain, the tycoon's sudden death on February 13 was initially deemed "suspicious." Police tested Patarkatsishvili's villa for radioactive substances that might be connected with his death -- an event that sparked comparisons with the death of KGB dissident operative Alexander Litvinenko -- but none were found.

One figure linked to the Litvinenko case -- Patarkatsishvili's close friend, exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky -- was denied entry to Georgia for the funeral despite his personal plea to the Foreign Ministry to provide a visa. The government indicated that a visit to Georgia by Berezovsky, who lives in London, could further irritate Tbilisi's testy relations with Russia, where Berezovsky is wanted on embezzlement charges.

Russian parliamentarian Andrei Lugovoi, who has been named by Scotland Yard as a prime suspect in Litvinenko's death, was expected at the funeral, but did not appear. Lugovoi formerly worked as a personal security guard for Patarkatsishvili.