Omega Group

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Bidzina Ivanishvili

Fired TV Iberia employees claim company used them for business interests

by OC Media

•4 min read

Former employees of Iberia TV have openly criticised the channel’s owners, Zaza Okuashvili, a Russian-British citizen, and his wife, Georgian MP Nato Chkheidze, claiming they were used in a financial spat with the government. They have demanded to be paid unpaid salaries and compensation after mass layoffs at the station. ‘We fought and eventually ended up out in the street, and no one even said thank you’, the former head of the Iberia TV’s news service Vakho Kuzmiashvili complained during

Corruption

Georgia’s ruling party lashes out at NGOs over Omega tapes criticism

by OC Media

•5 min read

A number of leaders in the ruling Georgian Dream Party have lashed out at the country’s non-governmental sector over their criticism of the government’s handling of the Omega tapes scandal. Fifteen prominent NGOs have joined together to demand action over the secret recordings, labelling them a ‘clear sign of grand corruption and informal clan rule in Georgia’. The Open Society Georgia Foundation, Transparency International — Georgia, GYLA, ISFED and others put out a joint statement on 1

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Omega Tapes: former minister says extortion tapes staged for ‘foreign investors’

by OC Media

•5 min read

A former Georgian minister caught on tape allegedly extorting money and cars from a businessman on behalf of former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili has claimed the recordings were staged for the benefit of foreign investors. Opposition-leaning TV station Rustavi 2 has aired several audio recordings taken in 2016 suggesting the government was pressuring Omega Group. Levan Kipiani, who previously served as the country’s Minister of Sports, confirmed to journalists on Wednesday that the recordings we

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Former Georgian minister ‘beaten and threatened with rape’ by chief prosecutor

by OC Media

•4 min read

Georgia’s former Sports Minister Levan Kipiani was kidnapped, beaten, and threatened to have his ‘honour violated’, over pressure being applied to Omega Group in 2016, the company’s owner and founder Zaza Okuashvili has alleged in an interview with Rustavi 2. Omega Group owns popular TV station Iberia TV. Rustavi 2, an opposition-leaning TV channel, accused former Georgian Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze of taking Kipiani to a basement where he was stripped and threatened with rape.

Freedom of Expression

Secret audio recordings suggest racket in Georgian Government

by OC Media

•4 min read

A secret audio recording released on Friday suggests that former Georgian sports minister Levan Kipiani attempted to extort expensive cars for other ministers from Omega Group, a business group that owns local TV channel Iberia TV. The authenticity of the recording has not yet been verified, but this is the second secret audio recording released in recent weeks suggesting the government is applying pressure on Omega Group. In the first recording, released on 10 September, a person alleged t