Who Owned Georgia English.pdf

campaign, the most significant enterprises in Shida Kartli weregiven to the local government. In reality, the state was confiscatingproperty, but since no formal law on de-privatization existed, thestate could do this as long as the property in question was “a gift.”A classic example of this is the story of Jemal Tsiklauri, whoowned Liakhvi Market in Gori, the regional seat of Shida Kartli.A local man complained he had been cheated by a butcher whohad charged him for 10 kilos of meat, but had given him 9. TheDeputy Governor, Mikheil Tsiklauri, showed up and confiscatedthe scale and demanded on television that criminal charges befiled against Tsiklauri. Then the regional tax office slapped acharge on Tsiklauri for evading 287,120 GEL of taxes between2002- 2004. 257 Tsiklauri was jailed for tax fraud in March 2004.Although an investigation by the Ministry of Justice foundTsiklauri had evaded 37,000 GEL, not the 287,120 GEL Goriauthorities charged, he says he paid the Gori Prosecutor Office58,000 GEL, yet he remained in jail. 258 His lawyer, VakhtangTskhomelidze, claims that Kareli, who by this time was governor,visited Tsiklauri in jail and demanded he hand over his business,which was valued at 228,000 GEL. In September, 2004, Tsiklauripleaded guilty and agreed to transfer his property and paid a 2,000GEL penalty fee in addition to the 58,000 he had already paid. 259Similar cases were reported regarding Gorkoni Ltd., whichgave 22% of its shares to the regional authorities 260 , as did theGori central stadium, which was valued at 56,425 GEL. Perhapsthe less subtle example of “re-privatization” reportedly happenedto Nodar Maisuradze, a history professor at Tskhinvali StateUniversity. He leased 230 hectares of land and grew wheat with27 other families. Right before harvest, Giorgi Kereselidze, a257 Jemal Tsiklauri case. Public Defender of Georgia http://www.ombudsman.ge/index.php?page=1001&lang=1&id=808 Accessed 14/11/2012258 Ibid259 Ibid260 Minister’s Friend - A Studio Monitor Investigation. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDdy5M2WrI Accessed 05/12/201265