Latest news with #BidzinaIvanishvili
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Ex-aide of Georgia's most powerful man, claims he was abducted abroad
A former confidant of Georgia's most powerful man has alleged in a Tbilisi court that he was "kidnapped from abroad" last Saturday and flown back to Georgia by Bachiashvili, 39, who once headed the Co-Investment Fund for Georgia's de facto ruler, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, accused officials of resorting to "banditry" and acting on Ivanishvili's direct told a Tbilisi court he was blindfolded for two days and then flown back "in complete violation of the law", without access to his lawyers and authorities say he was detained near a border crossing and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said he should be happy he was safely in Georgia. Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream party has been in power for 13 years, although the opposition considers the government and parliament "illegitimate", citing widespread allegations of election fraud last October."Today I am Ivanishvili's personal prisoner," declared Bachiashvili in court on Thursday. He is due to return to court on 9 went on the run in early March, when he fled Georgia midway through a trial that later saw him sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for embezzlement, which he has vehemently had been accused of misappropriating $42.7m from a Bitcoin investment deal, a case he said was politically motivated and led by Ivanishvili. Although he did not say where he had been at the time of his alleged abduction on Saturday, a close friend said on condition of anonymity that Bachiashvili had been at a hotel in Abu Dhabi when three vehicles arrived, and he was seized."He gets extradited with no lawyer, no trial, absolutely nothing," the friend told the BBC. The BBC has approached the authorities in UAE for a response to the businessman also alleged that he had been forcibly returned on a Bombardier aircraft run by Airzena, the former name of privately owned Georgian Airways. In a statement, the airline said it was impossible for anyone to "board or depart from any international airport on any airline illegally".Whatever the circumstances surrounding his return to Georgia, the State Security Service announced he had been arrested on Monday after an anonymous tip-off near the Red Bridge border crossing with crossing has been shut by Azerbaijan since the 2020 coronavirus lawyer Robert Amsterdam said this week that his client was at risk of "arbitrary detention, coercive interrogation, and abusive mistreatment".The head of Georgia's state security service, Anri Okhanashvili, said Bachiashvili had been convicted of a crime and would serve his sentence, adding that not a single hair had fallen from his head, Interpressnews agency prime minister said the businessman appeared to believe that his life was in danger. If that was the case then he should be happy he was back "in Georgia, in a safe place... in appropriate conditions". The allegations coincide with the departure of another close aide of Georgia's most powerful interior minister Vahtang Gomelauri resigned on Wednesday without giving a reason, other than to spend more time with his has in the past acted as a personal bodyguard for Bidzina Ivanishvili and he has been placed under economic sanctions from the US, the UK and several EU countries for his alleged role in violent suppression of anti-government whose estimated wealth is $4.9bn (£3.9bn), made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s in computing, metals and hero or Russian ally? The billionaire dividing GeorgiansHunger-striking journalist challenges Georgia's government from jailHe established a political party in Georgia in 2011 and won elections the following told the Guardian he had served as Ivanishvili's "right-hand man" for over a decade, managing the oligarch's vast financial empire and acting as deputy chief executive of Georgia's sovereign wealth described playing a crucial role in recovering hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from Ivanishvili by a rogue Credit Suisse adviser, successfully leading complex legal battles across multiple according to Bachiashvili, their relationship soured after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in added that Ivanishvili had operated like "a sultan and his servants" with prime ministers, judges and prosecutors, who had all made pilgrimages to his hilltop residence in the capital case mirrors that of another fallen Georgian Dream ally, businessman Giorgi Chikvaidze, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on embezzlement charges in recent weeks after publicly turning against the ruling party and claiming to possess evidence of government ties to Russian intelligence."Everyone will be held accountable sooner or later," Bachiashvili said in the dock on Thursday, promising to reveal "all the details" of what he called an international crime committed on his former boss's direct reporting by Paul Kirby and Nino Shonia.
Arab News
4 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Jailed ex-aide to Georgia kingpin claims he was snatched abroad
TBILISI: An ex-aide to Georgia's powerful tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili said on Thursday that he had been snatched while abroad, forcibly flown back to Georgia, and arrested on his former boss's orders. Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of Ivanishvili's Co-Investment Fund, fled Georgia in March amid mounting legal troubles following a falling out with the country's most powerful man. The case has intensified scrutiny of the role of Ivanishvili — who wields enormous influence behind the scenes — in Georgian politics. Georgia's state security service said Tuesday it had arrested Bachiashvili, a dual Georgian-Russian national, inside Georgia, near the border with Azerbaijan, following an anonymous tip. But speaking at a court hearing Thursday, Bachiashvii said he had been blindfolded and held incommunicado for two days in an undisclosed country before being forced onto a plane and flown back to Georgia 'in complete violation of the law.' 'Acting on Bidzina Ivanishvili's orders, Georgian officials resorted to banditry and brought me back to Georgia through abduction,' he said. While abroad Bachiashvili, had been sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for alleged embezzlement and money laundering. 'I consider myself absolutely innocent of all charges. Today it became clear that I am a personal prisoner of Ivanishvili,' he told the court. His lawyer Robert Amsterdam has denounced the case as politically motivated and accused the Georgian authorities of abusing international legal tools to persecute dissenters. Widely seen as Georgia's key power broker, billionaire Ivanishvili is the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party. He holds enormous sway over the party and the government, including the formal power to nominate its choice of prime minister. Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, has been accused by critics of steering the country away from the West and toward Russia — a claim it denies. Georgia was gripped by mass protests for weeks last year following a disputed parliamentary election in October and the government's subsequent decision to freeze its EU membership bid.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Georgia's billionaire power broker snubs US ambassador
The billionaire chief of Georgia's ruling party -- widely seen as the Caucasus country's most powerful figure -- has refused to meet the US ambassador, the American embassy said Wednesday. The diplomatic snub comes as ties between Washington and Tbilisi have sunk to their lowest level in years, with the United States repeatedly condemning Georgia's democratic backsliding, its violent crackdown on protestors and its move to halt EU integration. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest person and key power broker, is among those hit with US sanctions and visa restrictions put in place under ex-President Joe Biden. "Bidzina Ivanishvili has refused to meet with Ambassador (Robin) Dunnigan to hear a message from the Trump Administration," the US embassy said in a statement. Officials from his ruling Georgian Dream party have dismissed Washington's sanctions pressure as blackmail. The embassy said the meeting had been requested by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, so that the US envoy could "again relay specific steps the Georgian government can take to show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the United States." "It is our hope that the Georgian government sincerely wishes to return to 33 years of partnership and friendship with America and the American people," it added. Critics accuse the Georgian Dream party of moving Tbilisi away from the West and closer to Russia, with whom Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 for control of separatist territories. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday accused Washington of being controlled by the "deep state", echoing language frequently employed by President Donald Trump. "We want relations with a United States that is free from the deep state -- a relationship with an independent, sovereign country -- and that is what we are waiting for," Kobakhidze said. Georgia has been rocked by protests since Georgian Dream shelved talks on joining the European Union shortly after disputed parliamentary elections last October. im/jc/fg
The Guardian
6 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Ex-aide to Georgia's de facto leader at risk of torture, lawyers say
A former aide to the de factor leader of Georgia is at risk of torture, his lawyers have said, after he was arrested and deported to Tbilisi from his place of hiding in Dubai. Giorgi Bachiashvili fled Georgia after falling out with the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chair of the country's ruling party, for whom he worked for more than a decade, overseeing his personal finances. Two months ago, Bachiashvili was convicted in absentia by a Georgian court of stealing $42.7m in profits that was said to have been owed to Ivanishvili from a cryptocurrency investment. While on the run, Bachiashvili accused his former mentor of aligning Georgia with Russia out of self-interest, claiming he was willing to sacrifice 'the land, any interest for his personal wellbeing and security'. Ivanishvili, who is under US sanctions for 'undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation' and violently repressing dissent, was prime minister of Georgia between 2012 and 2013. He is widely regarded as the controlling mind behind the current government. Friends of Bachiashvili said he travelled to Jumeirah Beach hotel in Abu Dhabi to meet a local lawyer. He was instead detained in the hotel's lobby by a group of about eight members of the local security services before being transported to a police station in Dubai and put on a flight to Georgia, the sources said. Bachiashvili, 39, was given the opportunity to call his family to inform them of his arrest but his location is not known. Robert Amsterdam, a US-Canadian human rights lawyer who has been representing Bachiashvili, said: 'We were caught completely off-guard by his arrest. He had local counsel; he had local team, and he seemed very comfortable with them. It appears he was simply arrested and then put on a plane immediately. 'We are deeply concerned about the use of torture. Georgia is notoriously dangerous and corrupt, so it's a matter of real, grave concern.' The UN committee against torture has cited 'numerous and consistent allegations' of torture by Georgian law enforcement. Amsterdam added: 'I denounce in the strongest possible terms the ongoing instrumentalisation of domestic and international law and the abuse of mechanisms of international legal cooperation in Georgia's relentless efforts to jail my client for speaking truth to power.' Bachiashvili, speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, claimed that Ivanishvili had turned Georgia into a puppet state for Vladimir Putin after realising that western countries would not tolerate his continued control over the government. He said: 'I think that up until 2022 he had an illusion that Georgia would enter the EU under Ivanishvili's shadow grip. It became evident that the EU will not accept Georgia with this sort of autocratic power.' Lawyers for Ivanishivili have denied the claims.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man detained after fleeing fraud trial
TBILISI, May 27 (Reuters) - Georgian authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested an ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man who fled the country earlier this year while on trial on charges of embezzling cryptocurrency worth more than $800 million from his former boss. Giorgi Bachiashvili, who says the charges were politically motivated, was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for defrauding Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire former prime minister who is widely seen as Georgia's de facto leader. Bachiashvili, who used to run Ivanishvili's investment fund, denies wrongdoing and has said the case aimed to punish him for breaking with Ivanishvili by publicly supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. Georgia's State Security Service, in a statement published on Facebook, said it had arrested Bachiashvili near the country's southern borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan after receiving an anonymous tip-off. It said that Bachiashvili was under investigation for illegal border crossing. Authorities have said he fled Georgia in March by hiding inside a car before crossing into Armenia and then moving onto a third country. Robert Amsterdam, one of Bachiashvili's lawyers, said in a statement published on his firm's website that Bachiashvili had been returned to Georgia "forcibly" and that he was at risk of torture. The embezzlement charges related to a 2015 loan from Ivanishvili's Cartu Bank, which Bachiashvili had sought to establish a cryptocurrency mining business. The Georgian branch of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has said that there is a lack of evidence against Bachiashvili, and that the case appears to reflect Ivanishvili's financial interests. Ivanishvili, who is seen as controlling the ruling Georgian Dream party he founded, has steered traditionally pro-Western Georgia in a more pro-Russian direction since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, while clamping down on opposition at home. In December, he was sanctioned by the United States over a crackdown on protesters opposed to the Georgian government's freezing of European Union accession talks until 2028. The billionaire rarely appears in public, and has not commented on his former aide's flight or subsequent arrest.
