EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Georgia: Government Takes Aim at Media Tycoon

EURASIA INSIGHT

GEORGIA: GOVERNMENT TAKES AIM AT MEDIA TYCOON
Molly Corso 10/10/07

One day after the release of former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili, government officials are attacking media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili for his supposed role in a plot against President Mikheil Saakashvili and his administration.

Key members of the governing National Movement Party and one government minister have accused Patarkatsishvili of "plotting intrigues" after Okruashvili recanted earlier allegations that the president was planning to "get rid of" the influential businessman. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In a taped confession broadcast October 8, the former defense minister claimed that Patarkatsishvili and he had concocted the story in an effort to create a "favorable" climate for their political ambitions. He indicated that Imedi Television, a station co-owned by Patarkatsishvili and Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp., which has broadcast extensive interviews with Okruashvili, was used as "a tool" in the alleged scheme. Okruashvili was released from prison October 9, after pleading guilty to money laundering, extortion, abuse of office and work negligence. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Patarkatsishvili has denied the government’s accusations, claiming that he and Okruashvili were not "close friends," although they had occasionally met over the past few months. "I was informed that he was planning to set up a political party," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Russian service on October 10. "I also knew that it would be an opposition party and not pro-governmental one."

He also refuted Georgian media claims that he had fled the country after Okruashvili’s statements were broadcast on Georgian television. In comments to Imedi, he claimed he left the country for one day on a business trip and returned, as planned, on October 9.

Meanwhile, parliament, controlled by President Saakashvili’s National Movement Party, has begun to tackle other areas of Patarkatsishvili’s influence. On October 9, the legislature voted to remove the businessman from his post as president of the country’s Olympic committee. At a late-night emergency session the same day, members of the Georgian National Olympic Committee (GNOC) voted in favor of impeaching Patarkatsishvili from his position. Widely seen as the founder of the Georgian Olympic movement, Patarkatsishvili was elected to a four-year term as president in 2004.

"A person, who is engaged in discrediting our country and the president [Mikheil Saakashvili], should not be the [GNOC] president," Minister of Culture and Sport Goka Gabashvili told reporters after the session. According to media reports, one member present walked out in protest, another voted against the motion. Kazbegi beverages company founder Gogi Topadze, the committee’s vice-president, abstained from the vote, though he indicated a willingness to serve as the acting GIOC head until fresh elections are held.

In his interview with the BBC, Patarkatsishvili slammed the vote and refused to step down. "All the procedures were violated," he said. "So I do not relinquish my duties � I continue fulfilling duties of the president of the GNOC until all the procedural issues are resolved."

Once a darling of the government, Patarkatsishvili fell out of favor in 2005, when he accused the administration of forcing entrepreneurs to "donate" to special government funds. Although he is wanted in Russia on charges of embezzlement, the multi-millionaire claimed he is not afraid Georgian authorities will extradite him to Moscow. "I am not afraid of extradition because there is a constitution [in Georgia] that cannot be violated," he said. "On the other hand, the allegations against me are politically motivated."

Patarkatsishvili’s alliance with Murdoch � and Imedi � could prove helpful, some observers believe. On September 26, one day after Okruashvili made his accusations against the government, the Australian media magnate announced plans to visit Georgia in 2008. At a news conference with Patarkatsishvili that same day, News Corp. Executive Vice President Martin Pompadour stated that the country will feature in the company’s future plans for the Caucasus region. "Serious investments are anticipated and Georgia will turn into a major regional player in this market," Patarkatsishvili added, in remarks broadcast by Imedi.

Contacted by telephone in France, Lewis Robertson, the head of News Media Caucasus, Imedi’s parent company, said that he was not aware of any pressure on, or problems at Imedi television following Okruashvili’s statement about Patarkatsishvili.

In his remarks to the BBC, Patarkatsishvili characterized as "depressing" the government’s decision to distribute for broadcasting Okruashvili’s taped confession.

Okruashvili’s supporters maintain that the former defense minister was pressured into making the retraction and pleading guilty to the charges brought against him. Criminal attorney Eka Beselia, who claims to represent Okruashvili, noted that the former defense minister was "feeling very poorly" and would need several days to "recuperate." In a telephone interview with EurasiaNet, Beselia refuted claims that Okruashvili revoked her right to represent him, as claimed by prosecutors. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"He would like me to continue protecting his interests. He said that he did not want to renounce my services but�representatives of the general prosecutor’s office forced him to," she said, adding that he was "pressured" into signing the statement that renounced her as his attorney.

Members of his party, Movement for a United Georgia, have not been able to see Okruashvili since his release Tuesday morning.

Beselia added that Okruashvili would be tested by "international experts" for signs of drug and psychological pressure during his 12-day incarceration, but would not go into any details. "We are afraid that the government will interfere. [That is the situation in the country...] everyone is afraid."

While Okruashvili’s arrest and confession have been widely criticized in the country, President Saakashvili defended the process during a state visit to Denmark. The case, the president said at an October 10 press conference in Copenhagen, news outlets reported, is a "great test for the supremacy of law and justice."

Editor�s Note: Molly Corso is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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