Weekly Round-Up of the Gvaramia/Rustavi 2 Case

News broke Monday morning that former Rustavi 2 Director-General Nika Gvaramia has, on the deadline, agreed to pay the 40,000 GEL bail set by Tbilisi City Court for his release. He had been refusing to pay it under claims of innocence. His turn-around decision came, as he said, because of the growing fears of his wife, team and investors that he would again be detained.

“Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is the last day of my bail. My team is very nervous, potential investors are also concerned. My wife is getting more and more nervous every day. I would not pay the bail. It is your decision to pay the bail and I obey it. I will borrow money and I will pay the bail since you wish so, not me,” he wrote on social media.

He has also been prohibited from leaving the country without special permission.

Gvaramia was first charged in August by the Prosecutor’s Office for abuse of power and making decisions which were harmful to Rustavi 2 TV Channel. The investigation was launched based on the statement of the lawyer of Nino Nizharadze, former owner of 9% of Rustavi 2 shares, about the alleged crime committed by the management of the TV company. In addition, the statement of Paata Salia, the new director of the channel, about an alleged crime that significantly damaged the broadcasting company, was also attached to the case.

Last Friday, the Prosecutor’s Office again charged him, this time for “embezzling Rustavi 2 property.” In addition to Gvaramia, an indictment was filed against Kakha Damenia, the former financial director of the channel, and Zurab Iashvili, director of the company Intermedia Plus.

“On the basis of the analysis of the evidence obtained in the course of the ongoing investigation, we are filing new charges against Nika Gvaramia – he is accused of a large-scale embezzlement of the property rights of Rustavi 2 broadcasting company, as well as of commercial bribery and production/use of counterfeit official documents, which caused significant damage," a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office said at the briefing.

In addition to Nika Gvaramia, charges were filed against Kakha Damenia, the former financial director of the channel and Zurab Iashvili, director of Intermedia Plus.

On leaving the Office on Friday, Gvaramia said that there was nothing new in the accusations and that he links the ongoing investigation to the fact that soon the opposition-minded new TV company, the Main Channel, founded by him, will start operating. He added that he does not exclude the possibility of detention, but emphasized that if he is arrested, the channel will continue with another director.

On Thursday, the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) granted a license of 'general broadcaster' instead of the expected 'specialized entertainment broadcaster' to Gvaramia’s newly established TV Channel, “Main Channel” (“Mtavari Arkhi”), meaning the channel now officially has the right to broadcast news and political talk shows.

The representatives of Main Channel applied to the GNCC on August 26 to modify its broadcasting authorization.

“The Commission has studied the documentation submitted by the company, which fully complies with the requirements of the law, and registered the channel as a private general broadcaster in the Registry. The Channel will start broadcasting on September 9. The Main Channel is obliged to uphold the law on broadcasting, including the Commission's resolutions, decisions and all authorization requirements,” the GNCC stated.

After being dismissed from the post of Director-General of Rustavi 2 by the current owner of the channel, Kibar Khalvashi, due to a conflict of interests, Nika Gvaramia informed media about the founding of a new TV channel named ‘Mtavari Arkhi’.

Gvaramia also published a public registry document which shows how the ownership of the TV Company is shared: 51% of the channel is owned by Nika Gvaramia and 49% by Kakhaber Anjaparidze.

Gvaramia serves as the Director-General of the channel, Irakli Nizharadze is Financial Director, while the former lawyers of Rustavi 2: Dimitri Sadzaglishvili and Tamta Muradashvili are mentioned as Directors in the document.

By The GT Team