Prosecutor’s Office claims TBC founder Khazaradze did not report the threatening letter
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, March 6
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed statement of the TBC Bank founder Mamuka Khazaradze that he had informed the body about the “threatening letter” he received from Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia in November 2018, before the second round of presidential elections.
“The letter which was sent by Gakharia read that if we did not meet the demands, our reputation would be destroyed both inside and outside the country. We did not meet the demands,” Khazaradze said.
He refused to speak about the content of the letter and said that he will make it public when a parliamentary commission is created to investigate the “invented allegations on money laundering.”
Khazaradze said that he told the employees of the Prosecutor’s Office and a judge regarding the letter in December 2018, when he was summoned for interrogation regarding the money laundering case involving him and another founder of TBC Badri Japaridze.
‘However, the office showed a zero interest to what I said,” he stated.
The Prosecutor’s Office claims that Khazaradze did not mention that he received such a letter from Gakharia.
“At the interrogation, Khazaradze only mentioned an official letter received from the National Bank of Georgia saying that he and another founder of the bank Badri Japaridze might leave their posts. It was perceived as a threat by Khazaradze.”
The office also released an extract from the interrogation record.
“I strongly believe, I express my suspicion, that the letter of the National Bank of Georgia that we [me and Japaridze] may have to leave posts and investigating the case that took place 11 years ago serves the aim to discredit my image internationally that will automatically suspend funding of the Anaklia deep sea project. I have received a letter including threats and when it is time I will make the letter public, on how we were being threatened with such words,” Khazaradze says in the record released by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Georgian Interior Minister has called Khazaradze a “privileged businessman” who was gossiping from the parliamentary tribune.
“I never write letters, I say my view openly to those with who I deal with,” Gakharia said.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office stated earlier in January 2018 that its Financial Monitoring Service launched a study of financial assets of TBC Bank, its client companies, bank administrators and particular shareholders in May 2018, which revealed that there were “signs of money laundering”.
“We launched the investigation into money laundering on 2 August 2018. The case concerns developments in 2008 when LTD Samgori M and LTD Samgori Trade received a 17 million USD loan in an accelerated manner from TBC Bank without providing any real estate,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.
The office reported that when the money was placed on the accounts of the companies, head of TBC Mamuka Khazaradze and another representative of the bank Badri Japaridze took the same amount of loan as physical entities from TBC.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that at the end of 2008, TBC, without providing any genuine reasons, wrote off the debt of the companies and in 2012 completely freed the companies from any financial obligations before the bank.
NBG stated that the reason for its demand on the resignation of Khazaradze and Japaridze was the violations found in the bank transaction made in 2007-2008.
NBG says that they found the violation after the law enforcement agencies addressed the National Bank of Georgia.
TBC says that the bank has all the evidence that no violation took place.
The opposition claims that the founder of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili has his interests to the Anaklia project and the campaign to “discredit Khazaradze” is part of his personal concern.
