British Press Recount Patarkatsishvili’s Last Hours

Senior police sources said there was nothing pointing to Badri Patarkatsishvili having been murdered, but said they were obliged to treat the death as suspicious until proved otherwise, the Guardian reported on February 14.

The Guardian also provided an account of Patarkatsishvili’s last hours before his death late on February 12. At 11am (GMT) on February 12, according to the Guardian, Patarkatsishvili met with the former UK attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, whom he had hired as his lawyer. They met at the London offices of the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, where Goldsmith is the European chairman of litigation. Yuli Dubov and Nikolai Glushkov, Russian business associates of Patarkatsishvili, were also there. At 4pm, the group was joined by Lord Bell, who was Patarkatsishvili’s public relations adviser, and Boris Berezovsky, Patarkatsishvili’s former business partner and a friend. The talks went on for a further hour, during which Patarkatsishvili complained of feeling unwell, the Guardian reported.

“The offices at Debevoise are extremely hot and everybody was feeling very stuffy and Badri complained of not feeling too good so he went downstairs to get some air,” said Bell, who rejoined Patarkatsishvili outside after the meeting. “He seemed to be fine after that.” Bell also said Patarkatsishvili had complained over the previous few days of “feeling not 100%”.

Patarkatsishvili left at 5pm and traveled to the office building on Down Street in Mayfair he shared with Berezovsky. At about 7pm he set out on the 16-mile journey home in his chauffeur-driven Maybach. When he got there he met members of his family. The ambulance service was called at 10.48pm to report that Patarkatsishvili had collapsed and died. Police were also alerted.

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