Lawyer: along with delay in $500mln transfer from Swiss bank, Ivanishvili faced some other problems

Former Prime Minister and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s lawyer, Viktor Kipiani, says that along with the delay in the transfer of 500mln from Swiss Credit Suisse bank,  the billionaire has faced some other problems allegedly related to politics and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

 

Bidzina Ivanishvili has been dubbed as a “Russian oligarch” by Kyiv, asking the West to impose sanctions on him.

 

However, Ivanishvili holds only French and Georgian citizenship and as he said back in 2012  he suspended all his business activities in Russia.

 

“From March to mid-April this year,  Ivanishvili had some delays in the timely and unimpeded movement of works of art from London and New York. The resulting delays – which were relatively easily overcome in New York and more difficult in London – were eventually resolved through legal and other channels. Also, the time coincides with the complication of bringing a new helicopter to Georgia, purchased by Ivanishvili in exchange for the delivery of the old one to Germany,” Kipiani said.

 

The ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze suggested yesterday that the delay in the transfer of money from the Swiss bank, which lost a dispute with Ivanishvili related to fraud earlier this year, could be the result of the “coordinated actions of the forces which are interested in dragging Georgia into the war.”