Bloomberg on Ivanishishvili: Georgia's Shadow Boss
Bloomberg, a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, has published an article in the Opinion section about Bidzina Ivanishvili, billionaire businessman, and Georgia’s former Prime Minister. The Bloomberg story reports that Ivanishvili has signed a $75,000 a month contract with the law firm of Hogan Lovells to represent the Georgian Dream party. The author writes that Ivanishvili is Georgia’s “shadow boss.”
“Sometimes, however, a few sharp, well-timed bursts of congressional action can get a foreign authoritarian’s attention," the author, Eli Lake, writes.
"That is what appears to have happened with Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former Georgian prime minister, his country’s wealthiest citizen, and effectively the country’s shadow boss. Disturbed by the country’s slide into authoritarianism, Congress sent his hand-picked prime minister a succession of letters that have pricked him into action,” reads the article.
The author further reports that the Washington-based law firm will represent “Ivanishvili’s party and not the Government the party currently controls.” The article explains that this detail is “important for a few reasons. To start, Ivanishvili is responsible for Georgia’s regression into repression,” and connects it Gigi Ugulava’s arrest this Monday, for the crime for which he was already imprisoned.
Read the full Bloomberg article here.
Although the article was published as a part of the media company’s Opinion section, of which the LP writes: ”this column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners,” the article quickly got the attention from Georgian authorities. Natia Turnava, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, for one, has called the declaration of Ivanishvili as the country’s “shadow boss” “shameful”.
"I can tell you directly that this is shameful and unfair because Mr. Bidzina is the chairman of our ruling party," the Minister said, commenting on the Bloomberg article.
Turnava opined that Ivanishvili’s hiring of the lobbying companies could only be assessed positively.
"The sea of information that is being provided to the West and the whole world includes misinformation, and this is a very good channel to get the truth told about the processes ongoing in Georgia and the reforms being implemented in the country," she stated.
By Nini Dakhundaridze
Image source: Twitter.