Ministry of Justice discloses top secret TV Imedi document
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A top secret document about Georgian television company Media Holding Imedi has been revealed at 11 am by the Ministry of Justice.
The document outlined an agreement between the owners of TV Imedi, Badri (Arkadi) Patarkatsishvilis family, and the previous government in 2011. The Governmental parties of the agreement are:
- The Ministry of Justice of Georgia
- The Office of the General Prosecutor
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Geoergia
- The Constitutional Security Department
- The Financial Police
- The Taxation Department (now Revenue Service of Georgia )
- The National Communications Commission of Georgia
- The Tbilisi Municipality
Tea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Justice, stated that although this document was protected under the confidentiality law, Patarkatsishvilis family was ready to disclose this agreement.
"The previous government has terrorized and blackmailed Patarkatsishvilis family and has charged Badri Patarkatsishvili with absurd allegations, Tsulukiani said.
"After his death the government continued to pressure the Patarkatsishvili family. This family lost about 400 million GEL due to this pressure. This was the perfect example how the previous government was terrorizing businessmen in Georgia.
Badri (Arkadi) Patarkatsishvili was one of the richest men in Georgia. He founded Media Holding Imedi in 2001.
After Patarkatsishvili's death in 2008, his family appealed to the Court of Arbitration to recover the ownership of TV Imedi. After that, the government negotiated with the businessmans family, Tsulukiani stated.
According to the agreement, several factories in Georgia should have returned to Patarkatsishvilis family and in return, the family agreed to relinquish ownership of Media Holding Imedi and stop the court trial.
The agreement was signed by owners Badri (Arkadi) Patarkatsishvili's mother Natela, daughter Lya Patarkatsishvili, wife Ina Gudavadze and the former Deputy Minister of Justice Tina Burjaliani.
Today, the Patarkatsishvilis family lawyer, Lasha Birkaia, stated that the majority of the terms in the agreement were not honored by the government, including returning the factories to Patarkatsishvilis family.
The Chief Prosecutors Office is still investigating the TV Imedi case. According to the Office, from 2007 to 2012, under the orders of the government, ownership of the TV channel changed multiple times between local businessmen and offshore companies in order to mislead.
As a result, there are multiple documents that show discrepancies and separate violations by different high officials. "A detailed investigation is ongoing so the public will be able to see the whole picture in several months, an Office spokesperson said to agenda.ge.
The Minister of Justice thanked Badri Patarkatsishvilis family and expressed deep respect toward them.
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