26/10/2024
Bachiashvili Interview with Civil Georgia
Following his television interview with TV Pirveli regarding the politically motivated case brought against him by Bidzina Ivanishvili, George Bachiashvili gave an interview to Civil.ge, covering a wide range of issues. A few excerpts below:
The reason behind Ivanishvili suing him
For Ivanishvili, a good employee and team player is when you are a puppet, Bachiasvhili said. But as soon as his puppet gets his own ideas and does not follow him blindly, he becomes an “agent”, “traitor”, “enemy”, etc. for Ivanishvili.
Bachiashvili said that he helped Ivanishvili “in the most difficult financial case of his life” and that he was the one who discovered the irregularities with the Credit Swiss account and put together the legal team and the case. He said: “It was my professional duty and I did it so well that all the courts in Bermuda and Singapore ruled in his favor.”
Bachiashvili, on the other hand, said that he was a very bad example for the others in Ivanishvili’s team, as he was the only one who published in his social media posts condemning Russia when it invaded Ukraine. Similarly, when Bidzina Ivanishvili “started to demonize the West and change Georgia’s foreign policy course,” Bachiashvili expressed his different opinion, as he did not agree with the conspiracy theory that “some outside forces were interfering in the Credit Suisse case. It was crazy to believe that.” He said: “If any forces intervened in this case, they were all in favor of Ivanishvili. We won absolutely all the courts.”
While admitting that Credit Suisse tried to delay the case, for which it was reprimanded by the judge, Bachiashivli also stressed that “Patrice Lescaudron [the Credit Suisse employee at the center of the fraud] started emptying Ivanishvili’s accounts as early as 2006-2007, so, Bachiashivli said, it’s hard to imagine, even theoretically, that the “Global Party of War” would want to confront Ivanishvili at that time. (…)
What information does Bachiashvili posses
Bachiashvili said he has have lots of information and can reveal a lot, “but we have to stop changing governments with clandestine documents.” “Ivanishvili has already exposed himself…He promises repressions and prosecution and then creation of an acceptable “opposition”” just how this was done in Russia, Bachiashvili noted. He also said that for years under Ivanishvili rule, the state apparatus and his own party “have been cleansed of pro-Western individuals.” As a result no self-respecting company comes as an investor in Georgia, he noted. He further added that “investments are not made through the proper channels as they should be in a democratic country.”
He also spoke of corruption schemes in the gas and electricity sectors, controlled by people from Ivanishvili’s close circle, who own the intermediary companies with money flowing into their pockets.
