Georgia’s Operatic Bass Sues Opposition Politician for “Defamation”
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, November 7
Famous Georgian operatic bass, Paata Burchuladze, who is the founder of the charity foundation Iavnana, has sued Koba Davitashvili, a prominent member of Georgian opposition, member of Tbilisi City Assembly and a leader of the Georgian People's Party, for “defamation.”
Burchuladze demands GEL 25 thousand from Davitashvili as a moral compensation, as the latter told media the operatic bass was misappropriating fund money.
“We demand Koba Davitashvili rejected his defamation statements and reimbursed moral damage in the amount of 25 thousand GEL,” Burchuladze's lawyer Mariam Chikovani stated in the City Court, adding Davitashvili’s statements targeted dignity of her client.
Davitashvili is not going to take his words back. He claims he will win the dispute, adding “for years Burchuladze has been making money on poor families.”
“I promise you that during this dispute you will be accused and I will be the accuser,” the politician addressed Burchuladze.
The operatic bass stated the state attacks Iavnana and damages its reputation.
“All those participating in this grave and apparent persecution should be punished by law as well as by international law enforcers. Once again I call on the Prosecutor's Office to close this shameful case and tell people the truth,” Burchuladze stated.
Last month Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) released a statement regarding the investigation into the activities of the charity foundation Iavnana. The statement reads that in 2004-2017 only 30% of funds attracted by the organization were spent on charity. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the purpose of the investigation is to determine what funds were received by the organization in 2004-2017 and whether or not these funds were used for charity.
POG says the first phase of the investigation looks at money spent by the foundation for the coverage of the travel costs of Burchuladze and his wife. According to the agency, the fund spent 700,000 GEL on that travel.
The second phase, according to the statement, applies to Paata Burchuladze's expenses for hotel services in Georgia, which amounted to 40,000 GEL according to the Prosecutor's Office.
The third part of the investigation refers to the lease of real estate in the ownership of the Fund. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the property was transferred to the Fund from the state for a symbolic price for the purposes of charity. The fund rented out the building to an enterprise running a restaurant and the income received from the lease was meant for Iavnana charitable purposes.
“The enterprise was not paying rent to the fund properly or on time, as a result of which the fund did not get GEL 0.5 million,” the agency added.
The POG stressed that in 2004-2017, the cost of airline tickets of and the salary of Burchuladze’s wife Angela Vasilenko, whose role in the fund was undetermined, amounted to GEL 254,000, of which the salary is 25,000 GEL and other costs amounted to GEL 337,000.
The Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia launched an investigation into the possible misappropriation and embezzlement of large amounts of money by heads of Iavnana foundation on September 20, 2017.
