Georgia: Imedi TV license again under review, News Corp. role murky

By Molly Corso: 1/29/08

As the Georgian government continues its investigation into an alleged coup conspiracy by former presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili, the future of Imedi television, the national broadcaster founded by Patarkatsishvili, and run by media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., is once again hanging in the balance.

On January 25, the Tbilisi City Court upheld an order to freeze Patarkatsishvili's assets, including his holdings in Imedi, along with two other companies – JMG Consulting Group and Maudi Enterprises, a clothing manufacturer, Georgian media sources reported.

In addition, the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) announced the station's license would be discussed during a February 15 public meeting. According to Kakhi Qurashvili, head of the legal department at GNCC, the commission was forced to consider suspending Imedi's license when it became apparent that Patarkatsishvili was one of Imedi's legal owners. Under Georgian broadcasting law, neither administrative organs or political parties – and representatives of political organizations – can own a broadcasting license.

The tycoon ran as a presidential candidate in Georgia's January 5 presidential election. Official results placed him a distant third in the race, with 7.10 percent of the vote. Patarkatsishvili's supporters in Georgia told reporters earlier this month that the businessman will form a "right-wing, pro-European" party that will take part in this spring's parliamentary elections.

After announcing his intention to run for president in October, Patarkatsishvili said he intended to hand over control of his shares in Imedi to the station's purported co-owner, News Corp. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. But according to ownership documents submitted to the GNCC in December, there is no indication that News Corp holds a stake in Imedi, Qurashvili said. Instead, the conglomerate is listed as Imedi's management company, he said.

"[News Corp is the] company which is managing [the station]," Qurashvili said. "According to the documents that they presented to us, there is nothing that proves their ownership. News Corp does not own even 1 percent."

Lewis Robertson, the head of News Media Caucasus, which oversees the media giant's interests in the region, would not comment on the station's ownership structure.

Documents submitted to GNCC and reviewed by EurasiaNet state that Imedi Television is fully owned by I-Media, a joint stock company which, in turn, is owned by two other companies: JMG Consulting and Universal, Ltd. The problem, according to Qurashvili, is that 15 percent of JMG Consulting is owned by the Badri Patarkatsishvili Fund, a charity.

If Imedi can prove Patarkatsishvili does not legally hold 15 percent of its stock, its license will not be suspended, Qurashvili said. However, if the tycoon remains the legal owner of any part of the station, Imedi will lose its license for three months. There will be no move to revoke the license until the three-month suspension is up, he added.

The true breakdown of Imedi's ownership has been the subject of intense scrutiny since the government began its investigations into Patarkatsishvili last autumn. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The scrutiny coincided with reports by government-friendly Georgian media that the businessman was also financing a political party set up by former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who went public in September 2007 with a string of accusations against the government, including an alleged state conspiracy to murder Patarkatsishvili. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In the wake of the investigation and a police takeover of Imedi's studio following Tbilisi's November 7 unrest, Imedi employees have started slowly drifting to other stations or other jobs. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Former Imedi producer Levan Vapkhadze said he left Imedi when the station's ownership structure was not fully explained. In that decision, he joined Giorgi Targamadze, the station's lead news anchor and the director of Imedi's public and political programming, who left Imedi earlier this month, possibly to pursue a career in politics.

"There was an unclear situation," Vapkhadze said, noting that staff feared News Corp would fall under the influence of the authorities and turn the station into a pro-government channel. Vapkhadze added that programming was scheduled to resume on January 14, but that the restart had been constantly delayed.

If Imedi's license is suspended, it would be the second time in three months. Imedi's broadcast license was suspended in November 2007 as part of a government investigation into allegations that Patarkatsishvili tried to overthrow the government during the November 7 disturbances. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Amid international outcry, Imedi resumed broadcasting on December 12; however, the staff voluntarily stopped broadcasting on December 26 to distance itself from so-called "dirty games" during the presidential race. Their decision came one day after the government released tapes allegedly showing that Patarkatsishvili had offered a $100 million bribe to the Interior Ministry's special operations chief in a bid to "neutralize" Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Patarkatsishvili, who lives in London, has denied all charges and has refused to return to Georgia. He has been sentenced in absentia to two months in police custody pending completion of the government's investigation.

Editor's Note: Molly Corso is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi.

Posted January 29, 2008 © Eurasianet