Georgian officials comment on sale of opposition TV channel Rustavi 2
Discussion of Georgian TV channel Rustavi 2 continues after its new owner Kibar Khalvashi announced the sale of TV company. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Discussion of Georgian TV channel Rustavi 2 continues after its new owner Kibar Khalvashi announced the sale of TV company.
One of the questions raised after this announcement was whether the government was going to write off the debts of Rustavi 2 as Khalvashi said the reason he was selling the company was that it faced debts and his financial ability was not enough to “pull the company out of a deep crisis”.
Georgian Finance Minister Ivane Matchavariani said today that “no one appealed to [us] to write off the debts” of Rustavi 2.
We also realise that it will not be easy to pay this amount of debt and it will be required to take certain decisions”, he said.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze also commented on this issue and said that the financial problems of Rustavi 2 are well-known to the public and accordingly “assessments should be made by the society”.
He also said that Khalvashi is backed by his family, relatives, friends and lawyers “who protect his interests” when answering a question as to whether former Prime Minister and the head of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili stands behind Khalvashi.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze was also asked to give a comment about Rustavi 2 case and he said that “Georgia deserves to have professional, objective, ethics and free media which broadcast per western standards”.
He said that one of the achievements of this government is media pluralism.
The new owner of Rustavi 2 Kiber Khalvashi, who was given 100 per cent of the company’s shares on July 18, is selling the broadcasting company, reports Rustavi 2.
Dismissed Director General of Georgian private broadcaster Rustavi 2, Nika Gvaramia has been questioned at Tbilisi City Court today. The questioning lasted more than two hours. Nika Gvaramia said the questions mainly referred to the advertising contracts [he concluded].
Former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili says that he gave testimony in the Rustavi 2 case back in 2014 under the Georgian Dream leadership to have the support in the mayoral elections he ran. He said in the testimony in April 2014 that Rustavi 2 was illegally seized on the demand of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili from its lawful owners and founders Jarji Akimidze and David Dvali in 2004.
The United States Embassy in Georgia said the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Rustavi 2 ownership dispute should be implemented “in a manner that is fair, apolitical, and allows for a multitude of opinions to be represented in the media.” "Freedom of speech and a media landscape representative of a plurality of views are foundations of democracy”, the US Embassy said.
Georgian Finance Minister Ivane Matchavariani has called on leading Georgian TV companies with high tax debt to present plans to restructure their accumulated debt within about two weeks.
New Rustavi 2 owner Kibar Khalvashi has decided not to sell the TV station, and instead will try to bring the channel out of debt.
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The Georgian Ministry of Finance has urged Georgian TV companies which have current tax debts to the state to pay the principal of the accumulated debt starting October 1, 2019 and has given them one day to comply.
Today’s meeting between the directors of several Georgian TV stations and Minister of Finance Ivane Matchavariani has ended without a result after December 25th, when the Revenue Service ordered TV stations, including Rustavi 2, TV Pirveli and Kavkasia TV, to pay off the principal of their accumulated taxes starting from October 1, 2019.