Who Owned Georgia English.pdf

38WHO OWNED OUTDOOR ADVERTISING?When Charbel Aoun was kidnapped in 2001, his employer,Lebanese businessman, Fadi Asly, hired 50 billboards throughoutTbilisi advertising Aoun’s kidnapping in an effort to pressureauthorities to secure his release. It was widely believed thatinterior and security ministry officials at that time used tomoonlight as kidnappers. 147 Thankfully, those days are far behindus. Government officials, their friends and family members nolonger resort to such boorish means to earn a profit.If Charbel Aoun were kidnapped by ministry officials today,Asly would have to hire billboards from Outdoor.ge or Smod,which are the two largest providers of outdoor advertising in thecountry or the only provider, depending on how you look at it.And considering how close their links were to the Saakashviligovernment, he might actually have found it more constructiveto pay the ransomers instead.In 2009, the City of Tbilisi auctioned off two permits tomanage outdoor advertising sights for a period of 12 years.Outdoor.ge got the area on the right side of the Mtkvari River,while billboards on the left side of the river were rewarded toMagi Style Media, Irakli Chikovani’s (of the GNCC) and GiorgiGegeshidze’s (director/co-owner Rustavi 2) company. 148 In 2011,Smod Advertising LLC took over the Magi Style Media permit 149 .You won’t find Smod online or listed in the phone-directory (yell.ge), but it is owned by Smod Equities Corp 150 , a Panamanian shell147 Fady Asly: Doing Business in Georgia Under Attack. December 24,2012 Radio Free Europe. Radio Liberty. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1341597.html Accessed on 05/12/2012148 Public Registry. Ministry of Justice of Georgia, 18/10/2012https://enreg.reestri.gov.ge/main.php?c=mortgage&m=get_output_by_id&scandoc_id=465376&app_id=540650 Accessed on 05/12/2012149 Procurement Agency’s (Tbilisi City Hall) response to a freedom ofinformation request by TI Georgia (07/129614-8), received October 19, 2011.150 Public Registry. Ministry of Justice of Georgia, 23/08/2012 https://enreg.reestri.gov.ge/main.php?c=mortgage&m=get_output_by_id&scandoc_id=338787&app_id=390097 Accessed on 05/12/2012