Cartu Bank: 1 m Loan to Presidential Candidate “Not Related to Politics”
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, October 12
Cartu Bank is owned by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s former Prime Minister and the founder and Chair of the GD party. However, Gogua says this aspect has nothing to do with their decision to give the loan to the candidate.
As Gogua told Rustavi 2 TV, Salome Zourabichvili satisfied all the basic parameters that the bank has with regard to any borrower.
"We have a defined credit policy which borrower we are funding under what terms and that is, of course, corresponding to market conditions and the credit policy. Salome Zourabichvili satisfied all the basic parameters that the bank has with regard to any borrower. The politics have nothing to do with this,” the Bank's Commercial Director stated.
Zurab Gogua claims that it is a typical consumer loan and nothing different from the others.
According to the declaration published on the website of the State Audit Office, Salome Zourabichvili took a million GEL loan from Cartu Bank.
The Election Code of Georgia reads that the candidate, who receives more than 10% of the votes, has the right to demand 1 million GEL from the budget to finance the expenses incurred during the pre-election campaign.
Zourabichvili stated that she is not going to pay the interest rate of the loan she took from the Cartu Bank, adding she will get around 70% of votes during the October 28 presidential elections. And receive the money from the budget.
“I took the loan by myself. I am independent and so is Cartu Bank…I won’t even pay the interest rate of this loan because I will get far more than 10%, around 70%,” she stated.