Journalist’s Arrest Unearths Corruption Threads in the Media, Parliament

Shalva Ramishvili at his pre-trial hearing in a Tbilisi City Court on August 29.

The arrest of Shalva Ramishvili, the co-founder of the Tbilisi-based 202 private television station and an anchor of the popular political talk-show “Debates” aired by 202 TV, sparked heated debates in Georgia about corruption both in media and among the members of the ruling National Movement party.
 
Shalva Ramishvili was arrested on August 27 and charged with extortion of USD 100,000 from Koba Bekauri, a parliamentarian from the ruling National Movement party. Director of the 202 TV Davit Kokhreidze was also arrested together with Ramishvili. The Tbilisi City Court sentenced the two men to three-month pre-trial detention on August 29.
 
The case concerns the activities of two parties – Shalva Ramishvili and MP Koba Bekauri. The latter claims that Ramishvili was blackmailing him for three months, demanding that he pay USD 100,000, in exchange for not airing a compromising footage which allegedly dealt with Bekauri illegally acquiring shares in the customs terminal Opiza. The process of handing over the money was shot by a police hidden camera attached to MP Bekauri. Shalva Ramishvili denies the accusations as “a provocation.”

Ramishvili’s Case

At a pre-trial hearing on August 29 Shalva Ramishvili claimed innocence, and said the footage used as evidence by the police was a result of a botched journalistic investigation.

“Firstly, I have never blackmailed or extorted money from Koba Bekauri. On the contrary, for past three months Bekauri had been mounting pressure on me and on my friends through blackmail and threats, saying that this film [which included compromising materials against Bekauri] should not be broadcasted. There are many persons, who know about it and have witnessed this fact. This will be proved by an impartial investigation,” Shalva Ramishvili said.

Tina Khidasheli, a legal expert and the member of opposition Republican Party has already stated that she has witnessed “for several times” that MP Bekauri was calling Ramishvili and asking him not to air investigative reporting about his activities. “Shalva [Ramishvili] was very angry and was telling him [Bekauri] not to call him anymore,” Khidasheli said.

In his statement during the pre-trial hearing Ramishvili also revealed a new detail in the case. “At the same time, my and Bekauri’s common friend contacted me and offered to take money in exchange for blocking the film. I have no doubt about the honesty of this person, who is very important for my future fate. This person is the owner of the apartment where the money was taken,” Ramishvili said, though he did not specify the name of the person. 

Conversation between Ramishvili and Bekauri, shot by police hidden camera, was taking place in an apartment building on Abashidze Street 35 in downtown Tbilisi.

Ramishvili also spoke about the video footage, shot by the police hidden camera, which shows Ramishvili taking money – USD 30,000 – from Bekauri. In a conversation, shown on the footage the two men agreed that Bekauri would have given Ramishvili rest USD 70,000 in couple of days. But Ramishvili said that taking money from Bekauri was designed to become part of the investigative story about Bekauri’s wrongdoings.

“Now about why I agreed to take money and what the society has watched [on a footage shot by the police hidden camera]: when Bekauri’s actions went beyond the limit, I, in agreement with [Vakhtang] Komakhidze [journalist from the organization “Reporter” producing investigative reporting about Bekauri], decided to shoot footage by hidden camera showing how much Koba Bekauri would pay to prevent the airing of a compromising material,” Shalva Ramishvili said, adding that he planned to shot footage on August 29, when MP Bekauri planned to pay the rest of the sum.

Ramishvili said that he has become a victim of his own “badly planned investigation.”

Defense lawyers of Ramishvili say that currently, the only evidence the prosecutors possess is a testimony by MP Bekauri, who claims that he was blackmailed. They say that according to the Georgian criminal code blackmail and extortion can take place only if the fact of intimidation occurs. But on the footage shot by police hidden camera there are no threats voiced by Ramishvili.

MP Bekauri’s Case

MP Bekauri admits he owns shares in the Opiza customs terminal, but denies any wrongdoings.

A ‘compromising story’ about MP Bekauri has become a key element of the entire case, which might have far-reaching political consequences for the ruling National Movement party.

A group of journalists from “Reporter,” a media studio that produces investigative programs broadcasted by the 202 TV, were looking into MP Bekauri’s alleged wrongdoings related to the customs terminal “Opiza.” This terminal, according to this investigative reporting, is owned by MP Bekauri and currently rented by the Georgian Customs Department.

Vakhtang Komakhidze, a director of “Reporter” studio says the journalistic investigation was launched after it was found out that MP Bekauri’s assets have increased by 294,000 Lari (USD 163,300) since he became a parliamentarian year ago.

“Bekauri has explained this fact [of increase of assets] by taking a loan – USD 150,000 – from one Israeli-based Georgian businessman. The most important thing is that this is an interest-free loan. According to the law, an interest-free loan is same as a gift and public servants have the right to accept gifts only if the value thereof does not exceed 20 times the minimum cost of living. USD 150,000 is much more than that,” Komakhidze said.

“Moreover, MP Bekauri’s wife has purchased with this [loaned] sum the shares in the Opiza customs terminal. According to the law, a public servant does not have the right to participate in a private enterprise management. We have hidden camera footage [an interview with MP Bekauri] which reveals that Bekauri is actually directly engaged in the management of this enterprise,” Komakhidze said.

In his several interviews to Georgian media sources MP Koba Bekauri has admitted that he really borrowed USD 150,000 and has “invested part of this money into purchasing shares of Opiza,” adding that he has done this legally. He claims that the only reason behind his decision to give money to Ramishvili was his desire “to reveal corruption in the Georgian media.” “Otherwise I had no reason to give him money, because I have not done anything illegal,” Bekauri said.

But some colleagues of Bekauri from the ruling National Movement party expressed doubts about these statements and demanded from the party to launch probe into Bekauri’s activities.

“I demand discussion of the situation around Bekauri at the session of the [National Movement’s parliamentary] faction, as the society, including some MPs, have a great deal of questions, which need to be answered,” MP Elene Tevdoradze from the National Movement’s parliamentary faction told reporters on August 29.

Another parliamentarian from the ruling party Davit Zurabishvili also joined MP Tevdoradze’s demand. These statements of MP Tevdoradze and Zurabishvili were strongly criticized by the ruling party officials. An influential parliamentarian from the National Movement Giga Bokeria described Zurabishvili’s and Tevdoradze’s statements about Bekauri as “irresponsible.”

As a result MP Davit Zurabishvili, who until recently was deputy chairman of National Movement’s parliamentary faction, announced about his decision to quit the ruling party on August 30, saying that he will not “follow one man’s [Giga Bokeria] orders.”

202 TV

The private television station 202 was founded in 2003 by Ramishvili and Vazha Kiladze, who is now an MP. Ramishvili himself cooperated very closely with Mikheil Saakashvili and his National Movement party before the 2003 Rose Revolution, planning the party’s PR campaign.
 
The television, mainly its political talk-show “Debates,” become very popular recently, especially after similar programs on other televisions stations were pulled off the air. Currently 202 TV is the only television station in Georgia which airs daily political talk-shows, as well as journalistic investigations. The television broadcasts only in the capital Tbilisi and is regarded as the only station voicing dissenting opinion to the Saakashvili administration.
 
The television has a contract with an independent organization entitled “Reporter,” which with the financial assistance of “Open Society – Georgia” Foundation (an affiliate of the Soros Foundation network) produces journalistic investigations. According to the contract, 202 TV provides air time for broadcasting stories done by “Reporter.”
 
202 TV has aired two stories provided by “Reporter” so far. One about the investigation into the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, which cast doubts over the official reasons for the sudden death of the PM and another – about the arrest of Marek Dudaev by the Georgian police, whom Georgian law enforcers described as a South Ossetian war lord and criminal kingpin. This latter story also reveals facts which call into question the official version of the arrest.

Reaction

While the authorities described Shalva Ramishvili’s arrest as an attempt “to free the media from corruption,” the opposition parties claim that it is “an attack on the free media” and say that the only way “to silence Ramishvili was to arrest him.”
 
Ramishvili’s arrest has been a top story for the Georgian media since it broke. While some newspapers tend to assess the arrest as government pressure on free media, others are more cautious in their comments and stress that taking money from officials is a deep-rooted practice among the Georgian media sources.
 
But few dispute that MP Koba Bekauri’s activities should be investigated, otherwise doubts will always persist that the authorities aimed only to silence Shalva Ramishvili and not fight corruption.
 
The Georgian media has already speculated that if MP Bekauri’s alleged wrongdoings are confirmed, other officials from the ruling party may be implicated in similar illegal deals. Although Bekauri has a high position in the party – the deputy chairman of the National Movement’s parliamentary faction – he has never been a politically influential figure. The General Prosecutor’s Office has not yet launched a probe into MP Bekauri’s activities.