Russian businessman of Georgian origin Bidzina Ivanishvili, who heads the opposition coalition Georgian Dream, has spoke out against Boris Berezovsky, who now lives as a political refugee in London under the name of Platon Yelenin. This critique was triggered by the last interview of Berezovsky, in which he hints at close connections between the new Georgian politician and the Russian authorities, in particular with Vladimir Putin.
"Boris Berezovsky and Mikheil Saakashvili are partners in sharing the property of Badri Patarkatsishvili's wife. The Georgian authorities use him for their interests," Ivanishvili claimed. Moreover, he touched upon the painful topic of the death of Berezovsky's main business partner. "As far as I know, he[Berezovsky] accused me of connections with Putin, saying that Ivanishvili is unable to create democracy like Saakashvili. It is known that Berezovsky claims the property of Badri Patarkatsishvili, his close and perhaps even his only friend, while Saakashvili took the Imedi television company created by Badri. This is the democracy that Berezovsky likes... I guess they are partners here", the Georgian billionaire said.
Ivanishvili was referring to the events of 2007-2008, when Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili unexpectedly died in his London apartment from a heart attack, according to the official version. This death occurred soon after the online publication of Patarkatsishvili's conversation with Erekle Kodua, head of the constitutional security department of the Georgian Ministry of Internal affairs. The bureaucrat managed to record this "secret talk" with a miniature microphone inbuilt into his shoe and millions of Internet readers got access to the conversation, in which Patarkatsivhili also mentioned his relations with Berezovsky.
Soon after his death it became known that since the early 2000s, in other words from the moment when Putin came to power, Berezovsky registered a substantial part of his possessions in the name of his Georgian friend and partner. Since this personal agreement was not recorded on paper, it caused protracted lawsuits between Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili's wife Inna Gudavadze. Inna Gudavadze had to come to an agreement with the Georgian authorities and promised to stop the lawsuits to return Tbilisi Park Mtatsminda and the TV company Imedi that was given to the pro-government organization by Patarkatsishvili's legal executor and one of his heirs, the American businessman Josheph Kay (Iosif Kakalashvili). To put it differently, Ivanishvili hints that Berezovsky wants to get the support of Saakashvili's team in the property argument with the family of Patarkatsishvili.
However, Giorgi Targamadze, leader of the Christian-democratic movement, notes that the two Georgian businessmen have never been close. "When Badri started dealing in politics and stood against Saakashvili, Ivanishvili was supporting the president and in fact encouraged intrigues against Badri,"claims Targamadze, who was once the closest partner of Patarkatsishvili. It is obvious that the businessmen, who came back to Georgia around the same time, adopted completely different behavior there.
Patarkatsishvili was very open with journalists, even before he decided to run for the presidency, Ivanishvili was hiding and never gave an interview. Later it turned out that he was meeting the president and his team almost every week to give "useful advice". As for his relations with Berezovsky, their business interests were hardly in conflict. In addition, they were partners in the informal union of the most influential Russian businessmen created back in 1996 to support Boris Yeltsin.
Many things have changed since then. Berezovsky is now in London, Ivanishvili returned to Georgia, where he decided to get involved in public politics with the opposition. The quarrel between the two businessmen of Yeltsin's time coincided with Ivanishvili's decision to sell his business activities in Russia. Thus, the Russian Credit Bank was sold for $352 million, pharmaceutical chain Doctor Stoletov for $70 million and several development companies working in Moscow's center for almost a billion.
As Ivanishvili explains it, he did not want to allow his opponents (meaning the ruling Georgian party) to accuse him of "connections with the Kremlin". He gave up Russian citizenship for the same reason. Berezovsky, however, hints that one needs to have the Kremlin's support, not only to buy but also to sell large property, especially at market price. According to another version, the Georgian billionaire, unlike Berezovsky, had a transparent business in Russian and was paying taxes so "the Russian authorities could not find any fault with Ivanishvili". Those who know Russian realities can judge which of the two versions is more plausible.
Georgy Kalotozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively for VK
