TBC Bank founders Khazaradze, Japaridze leave bank’s top positions after being charged
TBC Bank Founder Mamuka Khazaradze says that he and his deputy will leave the board of the bank until the investigation is over.Photo: IPN.
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Head of the board of directors of Tbilisi Bank Mamuka Khazaradze and his deputy Badri Japaridze, who founded the bank 27 years ago, have left their posts at the bank after being charged with laundering $16.7 million yesterday.
Khazaradze wrote late on July 24 that he and Japaridze were unanimously [by 98 per cent of votes] re-elected to the roles by the bank’s shareholders in London on June 24, 2019.
However, he said, due to the turmoil caused by the charges, bank’s stocks have been depreciated by 12 per cent over the past several hours, costing shareholders some $130 million.
We are leaving the posts until the investigation is over,” Khazaradze said.
He says that the investigation is “absurd,” and is related to the large-scale Anaklia Port Project. The Georgian government denies this.
Khazaradze and Japaridze announced their resignation from the bank’s board amid a row related to the investigation back in February 2019.
Earlier in the month Khazaradze said that he will create a civic movement in September as the government and political parties “are failing to combat the problems Georgia faces.”
Co-founder of TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze has demanded the resignation of the head of the National Bank of Georgia Koba Gvenetadze and the creation of an investigation commission regarding the money-laundering case involving top former TBC bankers.
Founder of the Georgian leading bank TBC Mamuka Khazaradze has announced his resignation from the bank’s supervisory council amid a row related to a money-laundering case involving him and another top banker at TBC, Badri Japaridze.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has called upon the public to refrain from political speculations regarding the TBC Bank-related case, as the issue is not political.
TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have officially been charged with laundering $16.7 million in 2007-2008. Khazaradze says that the charge “aims to stop the construction of the Anaklia Deep Sea Port.”
Georgian businessman Avtandil Tsereteli has been given bail at 500,000 GEL bail by Tbilisi City Court today. The court has banned him from crossing the state border of Georgia without consent from the police. Avtandil Tsereteli has been given 14 days to pay the bail but he says he cannot afford to pay it.