Giorgi Kvirikashvili

28 Posts

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Church cyanide plot

Georgian Orthodox archbishop accuses government of plotting to overthrow the Patriarch

by OC Media

•3 min read

A high-ranking member of the Georgian Orthodox Church has accused government officials including Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia of attempting to orchestrate the removal of the head of the Church, Patriarch Ilia II. In an interview with TV Pirveli on 26 October, Archbishop Iakob Iakobishvili claimed the officials had sought his help in removing Ilia II and replacing him with Metropolitan Shio Mujiri. In November 2017, Ilia II named Mujiri as the incumbent of the patriarchal throne, who wil

Then Georgian Dream Chair Bidzina Ivanishvili presenting Giorgi Gakharia as candidate for PM on 3 September 2019. Photo: Georgian Dream

2019 Georgia Club Raids

Opposition and activists rally against Gakharia as Georgia’s next PM

by OC Media

•6 min read

Controversial Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia is slated to become the country’s next prime minister, the fifth under the rule of Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party. The ‘Shame!’ campaign by the For Freedom group, which has been demanding Gakharia’s resignation since June, called on people to protest his nomination for prime minister, which was unveiled earlier on Tuesday by Georgian Dream Chair Bidzina Ivanishvili. ‘It’s a slap into the face of so

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Georgian Prime Minister resigns

by OC Media

•4 min read

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced his resignation in a post on Facebook. According to Georgian Dream officials, his successor will be announced on Tuesday. Bakhtadze announced he was stepping down in a lengthy post on Monday. He is the fourth Prime Minister to resign since Georgian Dream came to power in 2012. He served in the post for 14 months, prior to that he had served as the country’s Finance Minister. ‘The strategic framework for the country’s development h

Anaklia Port

TBC Bank founder Khazaradze charged with money laundering

by OC Media

•5 min read

The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has charged two of the founders of TBC Bank Group, the former chair of the board Mamuka Khazaradze, and former deputy chair, Badri Japaridze, with laundering almost $17,000,000. A spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office said that they had appealed to the court to place the two in pre-trial detention. The court’s decision is pending. If found guilty of laundering a ‘particularly large’ sum of money by ‘more than one person’, the two face 9–12 years in pr

Anaklia Port

Former TBC head accuses Georgian interior minister of ‘threats’

by OC Media

•5 min read

The founder of one of Georgia’s largest banks, TBC, has accused the interior minister of sending him a ‘threatening’ letter during last autumn’s presidential elections. Mamuka Khazaradze, the former chair of TBC Bank Group, gave a statement to the Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday in the presence of a judge at Tbilisi City Court. ‘I’ve submitted a copy of the letter to the Prosecutor’s Office; the original has been sent to London for expert analysis’, Khazaradze told journalists following th

Anaklia Port

Georgian National Bank orders TBC to remove board leaders

by OC Media

•3 min read

The National Bank of Georgia has ordered the shareholders of TBC Bank Group PLC, which owns their namesake Georgian bank, to remove their Chair, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Deputy Chair, Badri Japaridze, from their board within two months. The National Bank also revoked the signature authority of both. The National Bank has the legal right to suspend a bank’s administrator’s right of signature and demand a commercial bank’s board temporarily remove or dismiss them if a violation of the law is

Anaklia Port

Georgia’s TBC Bank investigated for money laundering

by OC Media

•2 min read

Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has announced that they are investigating TBC Bank over possible money laundering and ‘other illicit acts’. The authorities announced on 9 January that they had launched a probe in May 2018 concerning $17 million worth of loans that were fast-track to LLC Samgori M and LLC Samgori Trade in 2008. The Prosecutor’s Office said that after TBC issued the loans to the companies, the bank’s Chair, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Deputy Chair, Badri Japaridze, took loan