Cartu Bank has sued TV Pirveli for portraying the bank as still under Bidzina Ivanishvili’s control, in what the channel describe as an effort to distance the bank from its founder amid fears of more international sanctions.

The complaint cites a May 1 report from the channel in which journalists referred to Cartu Bank as the “oligarch’s bank” and “Bidzina Ivanishvili’s bank”.

Cartu Bank is currently owned by the International Charity Fund Cartu. The bank was transferred to the fund in 2021, with his son, Uta Ivanishvili, named as the beneficial owner in recent documents.

In its complaint, Cartu Bank said the specific TV Pirveli report “aims to mislead the public and create false perceptions that Cartu Bank represents Bidzina Ivanishvili’s property, politicizing the bank”. The complaint added that, as a commercial organization, the bank is being harmed by “detached-from-reality, distorted, and false accusations” in the report, which “damage its professional reputation”.