Justice

“I knew that our companies would not be allowed to resume operating unless I signed the transfer of shares” – the witness

The hearing on the case of Iberia TV closure and the seizure of its broadcasting license was resumed with the examination of the evidence presented by the prosecutors today.

The witness of the prosecution, Ketevan Pankvelashvili was interrogated at the session hall today. She was the director of Ilioni LTD, the company holding 25% of Iberia TV shares and one of those persons, who were involved in the process of the registration of the transfer of the TV company’s shares.

The witness recollected the developments of February 2004, when the riot police raided Omega Company. She said it was a very grave and stressful period, when the companies belonging to Omega Group were occupied by the prosecutor’s office and the interior forces due to which the companies were paralyzed.

She also reported the developments related to the giving up of the TV company’s broadcasting license. She said Levan Agdgomelashvili, who was the person authorized by the Omega Group management, contacted her in December 2004 as he was the person in charge of communicating with the prosecutor’s office and told her that “the only condition, that should be fulfilled for the resumption of the work of the companies, was to give up the shares”.

“I considered his words reliable, so I went to the notary office. There were Levan Agdgomelashvili, Aleksandre Latsabidze and Dimitri Kitoshvili in the office besides me. As for the document that I signed – it was the document, by which I transferred Ilioni LTD’s 25% of shares in Iberia TV to a person named Kakauridze, whom I had not met before and I never met him even after the transfer of shares”, - Ketevan Pankvelashvili said.

As the prosecutor of the case, Emzar Gagnidze said after the hearing, Ketevan Pankvelashvili confirmed at today’s hearing that she had to agree on the transfer of shares under the request of the company management because there was no other way for the resumption of the work of the companies.

In his turn, the lawyer of defendant Zurab Adeishvili said that so far, none of the testimonies or evidence presented by the prosecution’s witnesses had confirmed that the defendant was involved in that crime.

It should be noted that the case of Iberia TV closure and the seizure of its broadcasting license was investigated by the prosecutor’s office in February, 2016. According to the investigation body, former prosecutor general Zurab Adeishvili and his first deputy Giorgi Latsabidze were prosecuted for this crime.

The next hearing on the case will be held at 12:00 on January 9th, 2017. The proceedings will be resumed with the examination of the prosecution’s evidence.