Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze on Friday said he would use the compensation from his ongoing lawsuit against the opposition-minded TV Pirveli channel and its journalist Maya Mamulashvili for the benefit of “the people who need it most”.
Kaladze on Thursday launched a legal dispute against the channel and its journalist and is seeking a ₾100,000 ($34,000) compensation for moral damage for a claim on the official obtaining personal benefits.
Kaladze's attorney Dimitri Gabunia said in the dispute was centred around a June 5 broadcast of the channel, where Mamulashvili alleged Kaladze had “received ₾60 million ($20 mln) from only one bid” in a state tender, and presented the claim as “official information”.
In his remarks over the matter, Kaladze stressed the media should be engaged in “criticism, not slander”.
I put up with a lot of slander, insults. Therefore, everything should be decided through the court. A specific journalist will have to provide proof of what she said on the air. As for the money - if we get it, it will go to the families, to the people who are most in need today”, he said.