Georgian pro-opposition TV channel 'faces closure' amid internal conflict

The future of a prominent independent TV channel hangs in the balance after its director accused a major shareholder of sabotage. The shareholder has denied any plans to shut down the station. Both parties have levelled accusations of collusion with the Georgian government and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

On Wednesday night, Giorgi Gabunia, the General Director of the opposition-leaning TV channel Mtavari, made the unexpected announcement that the station is facing closure.

During an emergency briefing alongside Mtavari employees, Gabunia accused Zaza Okuashvili, one of the company’s shareholders, of deciding to ‘shut down’ the channel, a plan being executed, according to Gabunia, through the recently appointed director, Giorgi Kurdadze. 

Gabunia stated that this was ‘exactly what Bidzina Ivanishvili needs today’, seemingly alluding to the antagonism of Georgian billionaire and Georgian Dream founder, who has been widely described as the country’s informal ruler, towards independent media critical of the government.

Gabunia accused Okuashvili of blocking all financial operations within the company, including new contracts that were ‘critical to the company’s survival’. 

Gabunia claimed during his press briefing on 11 December that as a result of the actions taken by Okuashvili and Kurdadze, the company’s employees had lost their health insurance — an issue he emphasised was particularly critical in the ‘current climate of systematic violence against journalists and camera operators’. 

He went as far as describing Okuashvili’s alleged actions as him ‘partaking in the mass violence’ against journalists, evidently referring to recent anti-government protests in Georgia where media personnel have been subjected to physical attacks and intimidation. 

[Read more: Groups of masked attackers target journalists and government critics during Tbilisi protests] 

Gabunia further alleged on Wednesday that Okuashvili has ties to Georgian Dream, highlighting that in May of the previous year, his spouse Nato Chkheidze, and his brother-in-law Rostom Chkheidze, both of whom are lawmakers, cast crucial votes supporting the ruling party’s effort to appoint three lay members to the High Council of Justice. 

Their actions led them to be pushed out of the United National Movement (UNM), an opposition parliamentary group that accused the pair of aiding the ruling party’s legislative agenda and reinforcing the so-called ‘clan’ within the judiciary regarded as allied with Georgian Dream.

[Read more: Georgian opposition bloc ejects members for voting for ruling party judicial candidates] 

Okuashvili hits back, accusing former and current CEOs of ‘bankrupting’ the channel

In response to Gabunia’s allegations, Okuashvili accused Gabunia of having his own ties to Ivanishvili. He dismissed claims of his own collusion with the billionaire as ‘comical’, pointing out that he was engaged in ‘several international legal battles’ against him.

Okuashvili has been embroiled in several conflicts with the ruling Georgian Dream party since 2018, most notably the Omega Tapes scandal. The purported secret recordings, which were leaked publicly, allegedly captured conversations with a Georgian Dream official that revealed extortion attempts targeting Okuashvili on behalf of Ivanishvili. 

[Read more: Secret audio recordings suggest racket in Georgian Government] 

That same year, he was accused of exploiting a group of Georgian journalists during a financial dispute with the government. 

On 12 December, Okuashvili denied any intention to shut down the TV station.

In his Thursday statement, Okuashvili characterised Gabunia’s late-night announcement as unexpected and ‘not serving the interests of the channel’. He further accused Gabunia and his predecessor, Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the opposition Coalition for Change, of  ‘deliberately driving’ the company to ‘bankruptcy’.

‘Their actions are a prime example of how one can hide behind the guise of media, loot a television company at the expense of employees’ patience and the country’s current situation, and turn the channel into an international money-laundering machine worth millions of dollars’, Okuashvili stated. 

Okuashvili played a key role in financially sustaining Mtavari, acquiring a 40% stake in the media group through his BGIM group in May 2020, several months after its on-air launch.

‘Hostile takeover by Ivanishvili’

On 12 December, Gvaramia issued a statement on his Facebook page characterising Okuashvili as an opportunist who was ‘signalling to Ivanishvili’ his willingness to use Mtavari as a bargaining chip. Gvaramia also characterised the conflict as a ‘hostile takeover’ of the company orchestrated by Ivanishvili through Okuashvili.

According to Gvaramia, after his departure from Mtavari, Okuashvili arranged for his successor, Gabunia, to require the approval of newly added director Giorgi Kurdadze for key decisions.

While recognising Okuashvili’s instrumental role in launching Mtavari in 2019, Gvaramia accused him of compelling the media group to indirectly pay hundreds of Georgian laris to his wife, then-MP Nato Chkheidze, and further alleged that she sought key nominations in the Coalition for Change list for the most recent parliamentary elections.

Mtavari was founded in March 2019 and launched in September that year after Gvaramia and his team were ousted from the Rustavi 2 channel. This followed a European Court of Human Rights decision earlier that year which upheld a 2017 Georgian Supreme Court ruling that returned Rustavi 2 to its previous owner, Kibar Khalvashi.

Gvaramia, who held various roles under UNM rule from 2004 to 2009, was charged with causing financial harm to Rustavi 2 in 2022 and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, serving over a year of his term before being pardoned by President Salome Zourabichvili in June 2023. Several months later, he resigned as Mtavari’s General Director to re-enter politics and lead the opposition alliance Coalition for Change. 

Gvaramia is currently on his ninth day of a 12-day administrative detention, following a confrontation with police during a raid and search of the Coalition’s offices in Tbilisi, where he was violently apprehended.