Co-Investment Fund: Ivanishvili Has No Connection with Cannabis Cultivation in Uruguay

The Georgian Co-Investment Fund has responded to the recent announcement made by TV Pirveli, claiming that the Georgian Dream Ruling Party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili is the author and investor of a cannabis cultivation project in South America.

The Co-Investment Fund, founded by Ivanishvili, says in a statement that he has no connection with the mentioned project and this is misinformation released by the opposition-minded TV channel.  

"We would like to respond to the announcement made by TV Pirveli that Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili is the author and investor of a cannabis cultivation project in South America.

“This information is a complete lie and part of a multi-year slanderous campaign against the founder of our foundation by certain political groups and the media controlled by them.

“Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili and the co-investment fund established on his initiative have nothing to do with production in Uruguay. Based on our information, the investor of the mentioned project is a Georgian businessman, Temur Ugulava, who has no connection with our fund.

"Regarding the participation of two former employees of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund, Ms. Ana Kobalia and Mr. Nika Bolkvadze, in the project, we would like to state that they were working for the Georgian Co-Investment Fund for some time, but left in March 2019 of their own accord, and we do not have information on where they continued to work, just like dozens of former employees who worked in the fund established 7 years ago.

“We have given a relevant explanation to TV Pirveli about this, but the TV station is stubbornly trying to claim that the fund is hiding the information and not making it public,” reads the statement.

The company PHARMIN, based in Uruguay, the investor of which is Temur Ugulava, has also responded to the announcement aired by TV Pirveli, saying that the information about a connection between the Co-Investment Fund and PHARMIN is false and untrue.

"We are surprised by the content of the announcement aired by TV Pirveli, which claims, without any arguments, the connections between the Georgian Co-Investment Fund and its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, with our company based in Uruguay. This information is false and untrue, as the only investor in PHARMIN is Mr. Temur Ugulava.

“PHARMIN is a licensed company whose activity is the cultivation of medical cannabis, the extraction of oil from it and the production of various medical products. The company operates in Uruguay, in compliance with all local and international laws. We want to emphasize that PHARMIN products are used only for medical purposes,” the company stated.

Temur Ugulava is a Georgian entrepreneur, known as a philanthropist, who supports Georgian art and education.

By Ana Dumbadze