March 23, 2008
Civil Georgia

A person, who claims to be the new owner of Imedi TV, said the television station “should restore its face which it had before Badri Patarkatsishvili went into politics.”

A person, who claims to be the new owner of Imedi TV, said the television station “should restore its face which it had before Badri Patarkatsishvili went into politics.”

Joseph Kay, alias Joseph Kakalashvili, a stepson of Patarkatsishvili’s aunt told Rustavi 2 TV on March 22 that he bought Imedi TV shares from Gogi Jaoshvili “simply after paying money.” He denied allegations that the authorities were in fact behind the deal. He has also claimed that before the death of Patarkatsishvili, the latter asked him “to take care of Imedi.”

Gogi Jaoshvili, reportedly a close friend of Patarkatsishvili, owned 70% shares into JMG, a company which owns 65% of shares into I-Media, a firm which is 100% founder and owner of Imedi TV. According to the papers submitted to the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) by Imedi TV in December, remaining 35% of shares into I-Media are owned by Universal, a firm which is founded by three relatives of Patarkatsishvili.

Inna Gudavadze, the widow of Badri Patarkatsishvili, said on March 19 that the Georgian government was trying to take over Imedi TV station with the help of “imposters.”

The opposition has called for a protest rally on March 24 against, what it calls, the authorities’ attempts to seize Imedi TV.

Meanwhile, Joseph Kay met with two top executives of the Imedi TV, Bidzina Baratashvili and Luis Robertson in Tbilisi. Bidzina Baratashvili, executive director of the television station, told reporters after the meeting: “We have not seen any documents yet and this was not a right place for discussing this kind of issues. Maybe next week we will have more in-depth conversation about the issue.”