Georgian PM: Khazaradze, Japaridze’s attempt to “cover up” defeat in int’l court ruling on Anaklia port project “weak and doomed to failure”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday said “any attempt” to “cover up” the defeat of Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the leaders of the opposition Lelo party and founders of TBC Bank, in a lawsuit against the Georgian state in an international arbitration regarding its 2020 cancellation of the contract of a private consortium for building a deepwater port in the north-western Black Sea town of Anaklia - “is weak and doomed to failure”.

In response to the "silence" of Khazaradze and Japaridze on the International Court of Arbitration's decision, the Prime Minister claimed it was an "attempt to cover up their failure".

• Georgian PM on int’l court ruling on Anaklia port project: arbitration “established truth”, plaintiff lost after failing “crucial project”

It is a weak attempt to [somehow] cover the international arbitration’s decision, though they cannot do so in any way. They filed an arbitration claim at the international level and lost this lawsuit against the Georgian state”, Kobakhidze noted.

The international arbitration ruling this week ended disputes around the developments of the long-standing project, in which the Government had cancelled the contract for the company’s failure to facilitate the project within deadlines, and for which Khazaradze and Japaridze - partners in the initiative with the Anaklia Development Consortium - and other foreign investors had submitted their lawsuit alleging violation of their rights in the cancelled contract.

Earlier this week, Kobakhidze said the state “created all conditions” for the Consortium that had won the state tender for the port in 2016, with TBC Holding as its principal partner, but the company “failed to fulfil” the major infrastructural initiative within deadlines.

In his reaction, Khazaradze on Tuesday expressed frustration on social media about the decision of the Court, calling it “disappointing”.