David Galuashvili, General Director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund, responds to media comments made by Giorgi Bachiashvili, the fund’s former Executive Director.

“I’ve seen the teaser of “Nodar Meladze’s Saturday”, where former Executive Director Giorgi Bachiashvili discusses certain figures, alleging that Bidzina Ivanishvili has ‘misappropriated’ USD 400 million from the budget and suggesting his involvement in political and financial manipulations (I won’t comment on political matters).

As Bachiashvili was the manager and chief financier of the company I now lead, I cannot leave these previewed statements unaddressed.

First, if Bachiashvili knew about the misappropriation of state funds, why is he announcing this now, exactly on the eve of the elections when there’s no time for Mr Bidzina to respond? How could Bachiashvili conceal such a ‘crime’ only to reveal it before the elections? I doubt that Bachiashvili is politicizing these issues with clear political motives.

Based on this statement, I want to inform the public about Giorgi Bachiashvili’s managerial activities while running the Co-Investment Fund.

In the 5 investment projects where Bachiashvili himself made decisions about acquisition and subsequent management – and I know the investor didn’t interfere in these decisions – over USD 300 million was invested 12 years ago. To make it clear to the public, investors typically expect to double their investment over 5-10 years, depending on the country’s economic and political stability.

In Georgia’s case, this period is typically 6-8 years. Financial sector professionals will surely agree. Therefore, it’s simple to calculate that investments made 12 years ago should now be worth approximately USD 900 million, however, the current value of these projects remains at USD 300 million – exactly the same as 12 years ago.

I should also remind the public that while Bachiashvili hints at Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ‘manipulations,’ one of the aforementioned projects, Mtkvari HPP, which Bachiashvili managed entirely, exceeded its planned budget by over USD 100 million. I’ll remind the public that this case is under investigation by the prosecutor’s office, and Giorgi Bachiashvili remains under investigation.

Regarding the Bitcoin case, I can only say what is publicly known – that Bachiashvili misappropriated Mr Bidzina’s bitcoins and the case is in court. It’s at this time, on the eve of elections, that Bachiashvili comes out with such slanderous statement”, - reads the statement of David Galuashvili.