Court rejects Rustavi 2 TV founders’ claim against current owner for 60% of shares
Two founders of Rustavi 2 TV channel filed a lawsuit against the current owner of the channel back in 2019. Photo: Rustavi 2.
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Tbilisi City Court has rejected the claim of two founders of Rustavi 2 TV, David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze, against the channel’s current owner to regain 60% of the company's shares.
Dvali and Akimidze, who founded Rustavi 2 TV back in 1994, filed a lawsuit against current owner Kibar Khalvashi in October 2019 after Khalvashi won the channel ownership dispute at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in July 2019.
They said that their 60 percent of the shares were also illegally confiscated by the previous United National Movement (UNM) government in 2004 and Khalvashi, who was connected with that government, was involved in the process.
After today’s trial Akimidze said that he was ‘shocked’ by the verdict, stating that it ‘will definitely be appealed.’
Earlier lawyers of Dvali and Akimidze said that Khalvashi won the ownership dispute in ECHR as he proved that his shares were illegally confiscated under the UNM government in 2006, while Akimidze and Dvali also suffered the same fate back in 2004.
After regaining 100 equity in Rustavi 2, Khalvashi said that he was ready to return 40 percent of the shares to Akimidze and Khalvashi, which the two refused to accept.
Georgian prosecutor Zviad Gubeladze who is working on Rustavi 2 case says that the ex-head of the TV channel Nika Gvaramia’s guilt in the case of the misuse of the TV station's funds back in 2015 is proved by the testimony of the company’s accountant. Former director general of Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia along with former financial director of the TV company Kakhaber Damenia and head of LTD Intermedia Plus Zurab Iashvili were charged with misspending of funds, bribery and fabrication of documents after the Rustavi 2 was returned to its former owner Kibar Khalvashi in July 2019.
David Dvali and Jarji Akimidze, the founders of Rustavi 2 TV channel in 1994, have filed a lawsuit against the current owner Kibar Khalvashi after Khalvashi won the channel ownership dispute at the European Court of Human Rights back in July 2019. Dvali and Akimidze say that their 60 per cent of the shares were also illegally confiscated by the previous United National Movement government in 2004 and Khalvashi was involved in the process.
Former Director General of Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia, who previously served as the country’s minister of justice, has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office to be charged with the misspending of the funds of the channel which was returned to its former owner in July.
Former owner of Rustavi 2 Kibar Khalvashi has stated that the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights on Rustavi 2 has dispelled all doubts regarding the channel’s ownership, confirming that the ‘only lawful owner of the TV is me.’ He said that he has no plans to get involved in the editorial policy of the channel,
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, on Monday rejected claims of political persecution in the sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of Mtavari Arkhi channel and former Director of Rustavi 2 channel, by the Tbilisi City Court on charges of embezzlement, commercial bribery, forgery and money laundering.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has said it will appeal the Tbilisi City Court’s decision to change the qualification in its sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the Mtavari Arkhi channel and former General Director of the Rustavi 2 channel, after the delivery of the verdict on Monday.