Berezovsky on his Plans, Georgian Opposition, Authorities

Boris Berezovsky, exiled oligarch and former business partner of Badri Patarkatsishvili, said he was planning to set up a branch of his foundation in Georgia “to support democratic institutions.”

In a pre-recorded interview with Georgian television station Rustavi 2″s weekly program, Kurieri P.S., he attacked the Georgian leadership, describing it as “corrupt and authoritarian,” but he also criticized the opposition for a failure to materialize, as he put it, the people”s expectations. 

In the interview, which was conducted by Kurieri P.S. anchor Davit Kikalishvili and aired on March 22, Berezovsky also said that “swindlers” like Joseph Kay, alias Joseph Kakalashvili, and his lawyer Emanuel Zeltser, had seized Imedi TV and were trying to take over Patarkatsishvili”s other assets as well through “falsification of documents.”

After airing the interview, Kikalishvili said that despite Berezovsky”s “tough statements” about the Georgian authorities, he had the impression that the oligarch was not “burning his bridges” with the Georgian leadership and instead trying to use his foundation “as a kind of blackmail and pressure” in the struggle for Imedi TV.
 
Below is a full transcript of the interview:

Rustavi 2: Boris Abramovich, do you have any business interests in Georgia; there were some reports that Badri Patarkatsishvili owed you, and his inheritance is disputed by his cousin.

Berezovsky: As far as my business interests in Georgia are concerned, it is a little bit complicated, because whatever me and Badri were doing, we were doing everything as equal partners and this partnership had lasted for twenty years – slightly less than twenty years. And unfortunately I still do not know… [changes tack] because I had handed over management rights of my [assets] to Badri and in some cases I transferred to him ownership [of some assets], because you know that the situation in Russia is very difficult for me, I am at war with the Russian authorities, so in order to protect our joint ventures in Russia I handed their management and in some cases ownership to Badri. So I can not definitely answer your question whether I have businesses in Georgia or not, or maybe Badri swapped those shares in some of my shares in businesses in other countries. So it still needs to be clarified what I really own.

As far as Mr. Joseph Kay is concerned, who is Badri”s step cousin, the situation here is very clear. I know this person for a long time and my very first experience of meeting with him showed that he is not an honest man and I was telling this to Badri. But Badri, who was a strong individual, strong businessman, was not paying too much attention to disloyal persons, because he always believed that he was able to control the situation.

And after Badri passed away Joseph Kay – he also has a Georgian family name – appeared; he came to Badri”s home just a day after Badri”s death. He came along with his lawyer, whom he [Kay] presented as Emanuel Zeltser – his origins come from the ex-Soviet state of Moldova – and they presented to Badri”s family papers authorizing their rights to manage Badri”s assets. After that, as far as I know, they went to Georgia and presented the same papers to the Georgian authorities and also to those people who were in charge of Badri”s assets in Georgia, including those in charge of Imedi and they [Kay and Zeltser] presented themselves as people authorized to manage Badri”s assets. Shortly after that it became absolutely clear that they were swindlers, who have falsified documents and as far as I know Mr. Zeltser is now in prison in Belarus, where they also tried to seize Badri”s assets through faked documents – something similar to what Joseph Kay has been trying to do in Georgia and in other countries, including here in Great Britain, as well as in the United States and Israel.

In this connection lawyers representing Badri”s widow, Inna [Gudavadze], have sent letter to the chairman of the Georgian government [Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze], as well as to the Belarussian and some other countries” [authorities], in which they bring up evidence that these persons [Kay and Zeltser] are swindlers and warn the authorities against cooperation with them, because such cooperation would amount to mutual swindling. As far as I know this document [letter] is available for Georgian media sources.

Rustavi 2: Did you want, or do you want to acquire shares in Imedi TV?  

Berezovsky: I have never had any aspirations to have an interest in Georgia in relation to with creativity, because Badri was doing that in Georgia perfectly. Badri created the most influential and not only the most influential, but also the most trusted television station with 80% confidence rate. So I have never thought of independently entering Georgia”s media market.

As I have already said it is not yet clear what is the situation with [my] assets in Georgia and also whether I own or not shares in Imedi TV, so I can not answer whether I am the owner or not [of Imedi]. But one thing is obvious: I had no separate businesses from Badri, including in Georgia and investigations which we have commissioned from professional British lawyers will give an answer on the details about which of us owned what.

Rustavi 2: Now about politics. During the November events, Badri Patarkatsishvili said he would spend his last penny in the fight against the Georgian authorities. Did you have that on your mind when you said that you wanted to continue Badri”s work?

Berezovsky: You are misquoting Badri. Badri was always saying that he did not want to go into politics and he was always for peaceful resolution of that confrontation between – not him and the authorities, but – between the authorities and the people. That is what he was telling me. I was spending a lot of time with him especially after he moved to London and he was telling me that he did not want to go into politics. He was forced to go into politics, somewhat because of intimidation, assassination plots – these are not empty words and I am responsible for each of my word and I can do that through providing evidence.

As far as I am concerned, the tragedy that has happened [referring to Patarkatsishvili”s death] makes me assume some moral responsibilities and that is why I have said that I would continue Badri”s work.

Fighting against the authorities was not Badri”s work – in fact he never fought against, he always fought for – and in this case his struggle was about giving the Georgian people an opportunity to materialize their constitutional rights. And it is my responsibility for the sake of the memory of my friend to continue that.

How will I do that? I know Georgian laws and I know that foreign citizens can not support political parties and I am not going to do that. But at the same time you have a law on non-governmental organizations, something similar which exists in many democratic states – although I think that Georgia stopped being a democratic state a long ago and the government is only creating a facade of democracy, it [the Georgian authorities] has become corrupt, authoritarian.

So I have decided to establish a branch office of the Foundation of Civil Liberties [chaired by Alexander Goldfarb] in Georgia. I set up this Foundation in 2000, when I was forced to leave Russia, to support democratic institutions in Russia, first and foremost. This Foundation still operates and has allocated about USD 100 million in support of civil society development.

I have actively supported the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and I have spent lots of resources on that. A branch office of this Foundation also operates in Ukraine, as well as in Latvia and now I am ready to open a branch office of the Foundation in Georgia.

On the other hand it will be a kind of test for the Georgian authorities on how committed they are towards democratic principles – not only with words, which I believe are different from their deeds, but also with their real deeds. So it will be a test: will they allow the establishment of the branch office of this Foundation, or will they not.

This foundation, which is fully in line with Georgian laws, will finance civil institutions, including independent media sources, committees for the control over electoral process – you will have parliamentary elections on May 21 as far as I know – to prevent those falsifications, which I think, and not only I, but also there is a final report by the OSCE, that [the January 5 presidential] election can not be regarded as democratic. To support institutions which are created by the people and not from the top by the authorities; [to support] initiatives of ordinary people to control the government.

Rustavi 2: Have you met with representatives of the Georgian opposition parties and which of them do you think are the most hopeful?

Berezovsky: To tell you the truth I was not much interested with Georgian politics. I started to show an interest only after Badri was forced to go into politics. And I, as a person who has huge experience of political struggle in Russia and not only in Russia, was helping Badri as much as I could. And having meetings with some opposition politicians was part of this assistance.

But I was not meeting only with opposition politicians. I have also met with Saakashvili, when I visited Georgia, I also met with [Tbilisi Mayor Gigi] Ugulava, when he was chief of the President”s administration [in 2005].

During the election campaign period I met with Levan Gachechiladze [leader of the eight-party opposition coalition], also with [Giorgi] Khaindrava [an individual member of the eight-party coalition], also with Davit Gamkrelidze [the leader of the New Rights Party] and I was sharing with them my experience.

I think that the Georgian opposition politicians understand the situation very well, but lack the will to resist the illegalities of the current Georgian authorities. By the way, a similar situation existed in Ukraine, when all the Ukrainian politicians were far behind the will of the Ukrainian people, when [President Victor] Yushchenko had in fact buried the people”s expectations. I think something similar is happing in Georgia. I think the opposition is far behind the people”s will. When 100,000 people are protesting – and we know that even 200,000 people turned out at some of the protest rallies – and the opposition lets this rally disperse saying that “we will now go for negotiations on your behalf with the authorities”… [changes tack] You know there is a Russian saying: if you raise your hand, you should strike.

I am not calling for any unconstitutional actions, but in this case the opposition had huge possibility to act in keeping with the constitution. November 7 was obviously an unconstitutional act. It was a predatory response by the Saakashvili regime. And the opposition gained a moral right to remove that regime, because that regime does not represent the will of the Georgian people – this is my opinion, which I can prove. The opposition exploits this wish of the people to live in a free and democratic state for its purposes which I do not understand. This is not what the people wants from [the opposition].

I met with Khaindrava after Badri passed away. It was a kind of consultative meeting, I wanted to get in-depth information on what was going on in Georgia and Khaindrava explained to me what was the opposition”s view.

Rustavi 2: In a newspaper interviews you say that Badri was betrayed by his associates, journalist…

Berezovsky: I can reiterate that Badri did not worry much about the fact that the authorities were pressurizing him – which I think was illegal and the authorities were tracking him down including through plotting his assassination – Badri worried more about the fact that he was betrayed. He thought that he was betrayed including by Imedi journalists; he thought that the opposition distanced itself from him as the opposition was afraid of the provocation which was masterminded by Saakashvili with the help of [top interior ministry official Irakli] Kodua. I think that was something that harmed most of all his health. I have lots of suspicions that he could have been murdered in a plot organized including by those people, who have emerged immediately after he passed away and who have put forth their demands on his legacy, which was then followed with such prompt cooperation from the Georgian authorities, which eventually led to a prompt signing of documents on the handing over of Imedi to those persons.

I have an impression that the opposition now understands better its responsibility towards the Georgian people, which it has ignored previously.

Rustavi 2: Is it possible that Khaindrava will become chairman of the Foundation”s [Georgian branch]?

Berezovsky: I can honestly say no. I want to reiterate that the Foundation is not politicized. This Foundation rules out that it can be chaired by a politician. This Foundation is purely a human rights advocacy group.

I am ready to offer the chair position of this Foundation to, let”s say, [Nona] Gaprindashvili [a five-time world chess champion, who was Patarkatsishvili’s close ally] – a person who can represent society and not only the part of society driven by political interests. So I can say it definitely that it can not be Khaindrava.

Rustavi 2: Thank you very much.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)