Justice

Why was Kipiani calling Otar Partskhaladze on the phone on the day when 4 million was withdrawn from TBC Bank?!

Former minister of sports of Georgia Levan Kipiani says that on April 21-22, 2016, when the representatives of Omega Group took a huge amount of money in cash from TBC Bank, he personally talked to the former prosecutor general, Otar Partskhaladze asking his assistance in cash withdrawal.

However, in the same testimony, Kipiani adds that they finally did not need Patskhaladze’s assistance. Kipiani also says that he did not have any kind of communication with senior officials while he was inside the bank on that day.

“I don’t confirm the media reports that I had conversations with Giorgi Gakharia; as for my communication with Otar Partskhaladze, as I have said earlier, I have quite good relationship with Otar and on that day, I had some conversation with him before going to bank and when I was at the bank. I knew that Otar ran businesses and had a lot of contacts in banking sector, I was asking him to assist us in taking cash from TBC Bank. We might need the assistance because we arrived at the bank quite late, at 17:30 and we could not have time to take cash and we might need his assistance in this. Otar asked at which branch of the bank we were and what amount was in question, was the sum on the account of a physical person or a company – this was the reason of our telephone conversations, however, the bank caused no problems to us and therefore, we no longer needed the assistance from Otar and I informed him about this. Consequently, neither Otar Partskhaladze, nor any other person helped us in taking cash, because as I have said, no help was needed – the bank said they were prepared to give us the cash from the bank account”, - Kipiani said in his testimony.

When questioned by the detective: “was the cash, taken from TBC Bank on April 21-22, 2016, intended for starting a joint business?”, Kipiani answers: “As I have mentioned, Zaza Okuashvili used to take cash with this method very often and in fact, he used to operate with “cash”, therefore, it was yet another ordinary case. I, of course, did not rule out that the part of the cash would be intended for a joint business, however, there was no promise of the kind in advance. There were only conversations from Zaza that he would transfer money soon, but the talks that the sum transferred to the amount of Olimpus ltd was intended for our business, did not take place. This sum was fully spent on the development of Zaza’s own business, construction of show rooms and construction of a hotel in Mtskheta”, - Kipiani says in the testimony.

On another question of the detective: “what was the certain reason for which he accompanied Asanidze, Kurdadze, Khachishvili and Pankvelashvili during their visit to TBC Bank on April 21-22, 2016 and who gave him this assignment?” Kipiani answers: “In the middle of April, 2016, Zaza Okuashvili was in London. Before his departure, he asked me to help the guys (the employs of Omega) in the company management, in relations with state and bank sectors to ensure uninterrupted operation of the manufacture. In that period, Zaza wanted to make investments in the field of Omega Group’s operation. With this purpose, the repair works of Maserati show room were conducted in order to accelerate the development of automobile business. It was the business Zaza asked me to watch over. He also told me that he would transfer this money as an investment and as far as it was a very huge amount in cash, he asked me to accompany the guys (Kurdadze and Assanidze) to ensure that there would be no problems at the bank”, - Kipiani says in his testimony.

In the same testimony, Kipiani says that the “sum on the account was mobilized by Zaza Okuashvili in person”.

“I don’t know what sum it was and from which business it was taken from. As for the withdrawal of cash, as I have told you, the bank carried out cash withdrawal for us and no one except Khachishvili and Pankvelashvili, the company directors, participated in it. We did not need anybody’s support in this case, because the money was on the account of the company and the directors of the same company were at the bank to take it. Therefore, there were no legal basis for not issuing the cash by the bank”, - Kipiani said in the testimony.

According to the same testimony, Kipiani did not have any kind of communication about withdrawal of cash with the mentioned persons before going to the bank or when they were inside the bank office.

“As far as I know the representatives of Omega Group did not have communication, because those who were inside the bank, as I know, were not acquainted with Khazaradze and Butskhrikidze”, - Kipiani said in the testimony.

Kipiani has also recollected in details the period of cash withdrawal and the persons who took away the cash.