by
Martin Banks
Lawyers for an unidentified client have asked the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee to review a previously secret agreement between Mr Patarkatsishvili´s family members and the Georgian government.
The UK's Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has also been approached for an opinion on whether a British law firm's involvement in negotiating the agreement might have breached that country’s anti-money-laundering rules, the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The agreement, under which the influential and formerly independent national TV outlet Imedi was brought under state control, was made public last month by the new Georgian government, whose leaders had argued the deal was politically inspired.
The 2011 settlement came after apparently unsuccessful efforts by Patarkatsishvili´s widow Iva Gudavadze and other family members to secure political support for their cause in Brussels. In 2009, their lawyers and PR representatives met senior European Union officials in an attempt to enlist their help against the then government of Mikhail Saakashvili.
On Thursday, a new report on the long-running issue was published by the influential Young Lawyers Association of Georgia which states that the agreement “presumed criminal conduct of high state officials from the former government."
The Georgian lawyers, in the report, point out that part of the settlement with the family members involves the transfer of a major Georgian steel plant, an asset not owned by the government.
A European Commission source said the Georgian government had taken over two Patarkatsishivili assets, an amusement park and a bank.
Brussels remains concerned about Georgia's general respect for the rule of law and free press and Kakha Kozhoridze, chairman of the Georgian Association, told the European Business Review website, “In certain instances there might be elements of offence in the conduct of high officials, including the President of Georgia. Therefore, impartial investigation needs to be conducted.”
The Association’s report and the agreement have now been sent to the Parliament’s Petitions Committee as well as the SRA.
Such petitions give MEPs the opportunity to highlight an infringement of a EU citizen's rights by a member state, local authorities or other institution.
The matter has also been referred to European Ombudswoman Emily O’Reilly, who is based in Strasbourg and investigates allegations of serious malaministration.
A member of Parliament’s Petitions Committee confirmed to EBR that the Association’s report was under investigation. He added, “This is a matter which gives cause for serious concern. It may well be that these allegations will have to be investigated further.”
The case has led to legal disputes and police investigations across European Union member states, including a Greek probe of allegedly forged passports held by Mr Patarkatsishvili's widow, Ina Gudavadze, one of the beneficiaries of the Georgian agreement, and her daughters.
Mr Patarkatsishvili himself was a controversial figure who found himself denied a visa to visit Brussels to meet EU officials in the run-up to the 2008 election in which he was running for the Georgian presidency.
The business tycoon was found dead at his Surrey mansion in February 2008, aged 52, a month after running unsuccessfully for the Georgian presidency. He was one of the "oligarchs" who made a fortune from the privatisation of state-owned industries during the Yeltsin era.
A flamboyant figure, Mr Patarkatsishvili was the man behind many of the most successful companies in today's Russia. He was said to have amassed a personal fortune of around £6 billion and had lived in self-imposed exile in Britain and Israel.
Mr Patarkatsishvili co-owned Georgia's popular Imedi TV station with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
Saakashvili pulled the plug on Imedi - the main outlet for opposition views - amid a brief period of emergency rule in November 2007 that saw troops tear-gas protesters in Tbilisi.
The tycoon made his fortune in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and his death from a suspected heart attack at his UK residence triggered a series of legal disputes around the world.
But in the tycoon’s homeland the hottest controversy was over his TV station, Imedi, which had been regarded as a major outlet for opposition to the government of Saakashvili, who was president until his electoral defeat in November 2013.
Following Patarkatsishvili’s death, the station changed hands several times as various claimants took the matter to court.
But its political allegiance became pro-government and it is widely blamed for a March 2010 report, subsequently condemned as a hoax, of a Russian invasion, stirring up anti-Russian panic.
The disputed ownership of Imedia TV led to an arbitration court claim by Mr Patarkatsishvili family members against the Georgian state and, in 2011, a settlement agreement which was kept confidential.
The new government eventually made the agreement public sparking new controversy over the terms.The law firm being queried about is Signature Litigation LLP who is believed to have represented Mr Patarkatsishvili’s widow and other family members.
By: N. Peter Kramer
