War for media started in Georgia

Author: Georgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively to VK

Three days after the parliamentary elections in Georgia, the best national TV company "Rustavi-2" partially changed its owner. Levan Karamanishvili, the businessman who owned 90% of the shares, sold 40% to businessman David Kezerashvili. It seemed there was nothing extraordinary about this - one entrepreneur sold his shares to another. In fact, a serious movement in the media market is clearly related to the tectonic shift that occurred in the political landscape of the country as a result of the parliamentary elections.

As you know, President Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement (UNM) lost the election outright, and the winning coalition "Georgian Dream" has a chance of winning a constitutional majority in the parliament. At the moment, "Dream" controls 82 mandates out of 150. But if majority shareholders escape from the ship of Saakashvili (which is likely, because majority shareholders of the opposition cannot solve any of the socio-economic problems of the region), soon the number of seats controlled by the team of Ivanishvili will reach the cherished hundred. This will enable the new leader of the country to do almost anything he sees fit, including initiating the impeachment of the president. But Saakashvili and his team are not going to give up. They are counting on the looseness of a coalition consisting of forces professing opposite values (from liberals to nationalists) and the inevitable disappointment of society due to the inability to implement the overly-generous election promises of the coalition. In a year in Georgia a presidential election will be held and the UNM, for sure, will fight for the presidency.

But how to keep the position for a few months and to prevent a complete collapse of the power vertical still obeying (especially in the regions) President Saakashvili? The losing, but still not completely crushed power has an important resource: the two most popular TV companies - "Rustavi-2" and "Imedi". Both of them are privately owned and in this sense are not under the control of the government of Ivanishvili. That is why the message on the sale of shares of shares of "Rustavi-2" has generated enormous interest. 40% of the shares were acquired by Israeli citizen David Kezerashvili, who was head of the Georgian defense ministry during the five-day war,. Now he has big business in Georgia and is closely associated with influential financial circles in Israel.

By selling the shares, the owner of a controlling interest of "Rustavi-2" and a close friend of Mikheil Saakashvili, Levan Karamanishvili, tried to protect himself from possible pressure from the new government with the support of the Israeli lobby. If it were an ordinary business transaction, Karamanishvili might well agree with billionaire Ivanishvili, who would be happy to pay several million dollars for the acquisition of a blocking stake in "Rustavi-2", but 40 percent were sold to Kezerashvili for only $500K!

The most strange thing is that even after three days, the new owner for some reason sold the package to a close relative of Levan Karamanishvili – Georgi Karamanishvili, who lives in the Ukraine, for the same price. Both Levan and Georgi are considered the closest friends of Mikheil Saakashvili. But could Levan if so, sell the 40% directly to George? Why was it necessary to turn to a "gear link" – the former minister of defense?

Imagine that such a thing happened, for example, to the Russian channel NTV. Of course, it would raise suspicions and questions. But Georgia has no answers yet - there are only versions. According to one of them, President Saakashvili does not fully trust his Israeli colleague, relying more on family ties between the Karamanishvili cousins. Remarkably, everything occurred in intervals of three to four days after the election. Taking into account expert opinions or assumptions, the main conclusion is obvious: there is a fierce covert struggle for influence in the television station. Kezerashvili decided to abandon the package as soon as the future prime minister Ivanishvili met in his business center with major businessmen and, in fact, threatened them with punishment for their disloyalty.

Thus, the best broadcaster in the country in all respects, "Rustavi-2", remained loyal to Saakashvili's team. This is evident in every issue of the news or talk shows. And the highly-professional journalists working for its website are well aware that the team of Ivanishvili will not find place for them in any way, because they are the "face" of the former government. Therefore, their loyalty to Saakashvili is quite pragmatic.

The struggle for "Rustavi-2" is a struggle for power. On the part of Saakashvili this is a fight for the opportunity to keep the rest of the leverages and resources to ensure future real opportunity for revenge, including promotion to the presidency of his protege. And on the part of Ivanishvili there is the desire to completely defeat the enemy, seriously wounded, but not completely destroyed during the elections on October 1.

Of course, the new government may try to strangle "Rustavi-2", using a financial vice. In Georgia, there can be no self-supporting TV: the advertising market is too small. But the Karamanishvilis have businesses in the field of communications, in particular possessing the largest Internet service provider "Kavkazus Online" that is, they may well subsidize TV as a guarantee of the integrity of their business empire. " Incidentally, during all the previous years, "Rustavi-2" and "Imedi" were subsidized by the state (that is, Saakashvili) in the form of cancellation of budgetary arrears.

On the other hand, Ivanishvili is also not sitting idly. Not coincidentally, after the change of power in the country, two former owners of "Rustavi-2" - Jarju Akimidze and David Dvali - made a statement (their main target was Ivanishvili) and asked for the TV station to be returned them, which, they said, "Saakashvili took in 2004, forcing them to sell it to a businessman Kibar Khalvashi." Immediately, Khalvashi came out of nowhere, reclaiming his rights and in turn accusing Saakashvili of being forced to sell a controlling stake to Levan Karamanishvili in 2006.

A similar struggle, in fact, is taking place around "Imedi". This brilliant TV station was founded by tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili in 2001. After his death in 2008, "Imedi", according to his will, was handed to his executor, an American businessman Joseph Kay, who soon sold "Imedi” to Mikhail Saakashvili's closest associate - Georgi Arveladze. Immediately after the election, Patarkatsishvili’s family also announced that it intended to compete for "Imedi", referring to the falsification of the will of the billionaire, but according to lawyers, the litigation had no future, because all the documentation of the new owners is correct.

Immediately after the elections Arveladze ordered the TV broadcasting network to be changed. He took all entertainment shows (upscale and popular) off air and passed over the laundry information broadcasting in the format of "Russia-24" with a lot of interviews and talk shows about politics. Obviously, "Imedi", like "Rustavi-2", is going to fiercely criticize the new government of Ivanishvili, not missing any error, inflating any mistake, deepening every failure of the government and contributing to the project of revenge, that is, the return of the team of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Given the capabilities of these two resources, the project does not seem utopian, unless, of course, team Ivanishvili takes decisive action even to the detriment of his reputation in the West, where there is traditionally meticulous concern about any aggressive encroachment concerning the media. However, Ivanishvili may simply not have any other choice: while "Rustavi-2" and "Imedi" are in the hands of the opposition (i.e. Saakashvili), the new government will have to work under heavy pressure from information sabotage and political crises, either of which can be completed by the resignation of the government and calling early parliamentary elections - in terms of broken promises and disaffected voters ready to support the former ruling team. And the fact that Saakashvili is not going away from politics is well-known: he made that clear during the "historic meeting" with the future prime minister on the steps of his luxurious residence.