Opposition figure dismisses plans for Imedi Bank as legally impossible

Former president of the National Bank of Georgia and opposition politician Roman Gotsiridze has described plans to establish Imedi Bank after the UK sanctioned Imedi and POSTV as unrealistic and legally impossible.

“The creation of ‘Imedi Bank’ is ridiculous. It will not happen,” Gotsiridze said. “By law, nothing may be called a bank unless it is a financial institution established and licensed by the National Bank. The idea of ‘Imedi Bank’ is absurd.”

He argued that even if the central bank wished to approve such an institution, it would not be able to do so because it would fail to meet statutory compliance criteria.

Gotsiridze also warned that if a special microbank were created under existing legislation to service Imedi, it would amount to the National Bank directly assisting in circumventing sanctions.

“That would place the country’s financial system under enormous risk,” he said.

He further alleged that the only feasible outcome would be the creation of what he described as a “black money bank” -  a mechanism, he claimed, for collecting funds from wealthy supporters.