Monday, July 23, 2007, #138 (1405)

Press Scanner
Prepared by Diana Dundua

Headline: Gogi Topadze Begins Election Consultations
The newspaper Akhali Taoba reports that Industrialists party leader Gogi Topadze plans a return to politics, and will soon start consultations with the various factions.
“I have not disappeared from politics; now I’ll be more actively involved in the political process, and of course I’ll be the leader of my party. There’s a year and a half left till the elections, and the campaign demands a huge amount of money. We’ll hold consultations with all forces, all political parties and then let’s see together what happens,” explains Topadze.
He leaves open the possibility of merging with other political blocs.
“Maybe we will join the New Rights opposition party again and create an electoral bloc. Possibly, the Labor Party will stand with us,” says the Industrialist leader.
Topadze held back in speaking about any alliance with former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili.
“He hasn’t established a party yet. He hasn’t talked about who will be involved in the newly created party, or what their objectives will be. First, we should study each other’s strategies and purposes, and then we can talk about cooperation. I must confess that I do have good feelings about Okruashvili—he has his principles and I like that,” states Topadze.
According to him, the current election law will not allow for fair elections.
 
Headline: Conservative Party Demands Thorough Investigation of Girgvliani case
Opposition politicians from the Conservative Party are demanding a complete investigation of the high profile murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani, writes the newspaper Rezonansi. Girgvliani was killed in January, 2006, with four Interior Ministry employees convicted and high-level officials implicated in the murder. Conservative Party MPs say they will bring up the issue in the autumn session of parliament.
 “Sandro Girgvliani’s friend Levan Bukhaidze, who was with him on the day of the murder…identified an Interior Ministry employee, Oleg Melnikov, as among the killers,” said Conservative Party MP Kakha Kukava.
Kukava said that on the basis of Bukhaidze’s testimony, his party is appealing to the Prosecutor General’s office to reopen the case.
“We promise that we will fight until all of Girgvliani’s murderers are in jailed,” said Kukava.

Headline: Bagapsh is Afraid of Summer
The newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika reports that de facto president of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh is pushing to strengthen the Gali portion of the Abkhaz border.
 Talking with the information agency Abkhazia, Bagapsh spokesman Kristian Bzhania said that the de facto president ordered military heads to strengthen their forces deployed in Gali.
“It’s necessary to strengthen the border and customs checkpoints to make them correspond to the operative situation in Gali. The same must be done on the Enguri River that divides Georgia from Abkhazia,” stated Bagapsh.
In addition, the de facto president ordered his government to crack down on illegal border crossings.
“The danger of provocations from Georgian criminals and armed groups increases during summer,” explained Bzhania.  

Headline: Standard Bank in Batumi
Standard Bank is opening branches in regional centers all over Georgia, Akhali Taoba writes.
In Batumi on July 21, the newest branch office of the bank was opened on Rustaveli St. #12.



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