The Georgian public registry on Thursday once again rejected the handover of 25 percent of shares to the staff of the opposition-minded TV channel by the country’s currently wanted former defence minister David Kezerashvili, who currently owns 51 percent of shares in the channel.
The agency said the handover had been rejected due to the absence of a valid Georgian identification document of Kezerashvili, who decided to hand the part of his shares to his employee following the BBC’s April report, which said the former official was reportedly connected with an international scheme defrauding European citizens.
As part of the agreement the Freedom Formula – an employee-based organisation – will be prohibited from alienating, transferring, pledging or encumbering with any right the share in the channel without the prior written consent of all existing partners, in the case if it receives the promised shares.
Kezerashvili, who earlier this year was convicted in Georgia for embezzlement of state funds while in office under the United National Movement government, pledged he would sue the BBC for the “unfounded allegations”.
He claimed he decided to hand his shares to the channel personnel to “protect it” from potential harm due to the report.
The Georgian government officials, who call Kezerashvili an “oligarch”, claim he is funding the “radical wing” of the domestic opposition, their affiliated NGOs and media organizations with his “stolen money” in a bid to spark unrest in the country and remove them from power.
