Ruling party MP claims TV Pirveli spread disinformation about Ivanishvili’s ties to Cartu Bank

A lawmaker from Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party has accused opposition-leaning TV Pirveli of spreading false claims about billionaire and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ties to Cartu Bank, following the bank’s defamation lawsuit against the channel.

"TV Pirveli once again crossed the line, saying the bank is still Ivanishvili’s and predicting it would collapse or be cut off from SWIFT — complete nonsense,” said Irakli Zarkua, chair of the Parliament’s Diaspora Committee. He argued the broadcaster deliberately misled the public and omitted crucial legal context about the lawsuit.

Zarkua defended the lawsuit, saying the bank is acting within its rights under international obligations and Georgia’s revised defamation law. The law, recently amended by the Georgian Dream majority, now shifts the burden of proof onto defendants in defamation cases — a change widely criticized by media freedom advocates.

Cartu Bank, which was founded by Ivanishvili but transferred to his charitable foundation in 2021, filed the complaint in response to a May 1 report in which TV Pirveli journalists referred to it as “the oligarch’s bank” and alleged it still served Ivanishvili’s financial interests. The bank called the report “false and politically motivated,” claiming it damaged its professional reputation.

TV Pirveli reported on July 29 that Cartu seeks to bar the channel from using phrases like “Ivanishvili’s bank,” insisting the institution no longer has ties to the former prime minister. Critics, however, see the lawsuit as an attempt to distance the bank from Ivanishvili amid growing fears of international sanctions.