TBC founders officially charged, co-founder Khazaradze says case linked with Anaklia Port
TBC founder Mamuka Khazaradze says that the price of TBC Bank shares has already dropped eight per cent. Photo: Radio Liberty/Free Europe.
Tweet 
Share
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.”
The government continues its actions against me and Japaridze which they started in January 2019. The moves by the government have affected us, as well as shareholders of TBC Bank, the implementation of the Anaklia Port project and the state,” Khazaradze said.
He stated that he “is not going to stop and is ready for everything [even for detention].”
No one will make me stop and the port will be built anyway. If somebody thinks that it is Khazaradze’s project, they are very mistaken, as it is a project of our children. The project is a big step taken towards Europe,” Khazaradze said.
Anaklia Deep Sea Port is sheduled to be completed by 2020. Image by Anaklia Consortium.
He stated he is ashamed of the activities of the country’s Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office “because of the absurd accusations.”
We have presented all the documentation proving the legality of the transaction,” Khazaradze said.
Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava said that the Anaklia Port is of top importance for the government and it faces no threats due to the case.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze stated earlier that connecting the case with the Anaklia Port “is a cheap speculation.”
Anaklia Deep Sea Port is a 2.5 billion USD project which is scheduled to be completed by 2020, connecting Europe and Asia with an alternative, short route.
Khazaradze represents TBC Holding in the Anaklia Consortium, which won the government-announced tender back in 2016 to attract funds for the port’s construction.
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.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has demanded the withdrawal of the head of the supervisory council of the Georgian leading TBC bank Mamuka Khazaradze and the deputy head of the council Badri Japaridze from the council due to a money laundering case being investigated by the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
Top figures of the Georgian Dream ruling party say that there are no political grounds in the accusations against TBC founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, who will be charged with laundering of $16.7 million later today.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office have summoned TBC founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze to charge them [later today] with laundering $16,754,000. The Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into possible money laundering on 2 August 2018, ‘after the Georgian Financial Monitoring Service sent us a written note about a possible violation’ taking place in 2007- 2008.
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.
“The government has stated many times and I repeat that the Anaklia Port is not the project of some individual or a consortium, it is a strategically important project and the government does its best for its construction. We need the deep-sea port to increase Georgia’s transit capability and boost the state economy,” Chugoshvili said.
The US Embassy to Georgia says that they are ‘closely following’ the developments related to the criminal charges the Georgian Chief Prosecutor General’s Office has filed against TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.
"The implementation of the project is not in the interests of people who connect the port and other, separate issues [the filing of charge against TBC founders]. We have expressed our full support for the project and done our best for it to be implemented, starting from taking on financial obligations to negotiations with financial institutions and investors,” Bakhtadze said.
TBC Bank founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have stated that they will leave top managerial posts in the Anaklia Development Consortium to “protect the Anaklia Port project and end speculations.”Khazaradze chairs the managing council of the consortium, which is tasked to attract funds for the $2.5 billion port construction, while Japaridze is his deputy.
Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has started investigating the letter Georgian TBC Bank founder Mamuka Khazaradze says he received from current PM, Giorgi Gakharia, at the end of 2018, and which “contain threats to him.”