In 2009, Stanton was renamed GeoProMining Ltd. It’scontract office was listed in Moscow. Rather than investdirectly in Madneuli, the company focused more in developingits ventures in Armenia with an overall strategy to invest inthe region. In the summer of 2011, the Ministry of Energy andNatural Resources revoked Madneuli’s license for not meetingits contract obligations and put it up for auction. The CaucasusMountain Group won the tender on October 3rd, 2011, biddingagainst the “Anglo-<strong>Georgia</strong>n mining company,” which wouldactually become the owner a year later. 362The Caucasus Mountain Group was registered on August30th, 2011, to a geologist who worked for GeoProMining, JondoShubitidze. The 100% shareholder of the Caucasus MountainGroup was Pemptilon Holdings Ltd., a company registered inCyprus on June 6th, 2011. The registration was prepared byCyproman, a company that specializes in registering firms offshore to owners who wish to remain anonymous. 363 Cypromanemployees, Elena Mikhael Serdibova and Ntina Mousikou, bothsat on Pemptilon’s board, which appointed Shubitidze generaldirector of Caucasus Mountain Group. Pemptilon intended toregister the “Caucasus Mountain Group” on August 15th, one daybefore the tender was announced publicly, and they also knewthe auction was planned on October 3rd, which was supposed tobe confidential information. 364On June 14, 2012, Rich Metals Group (RMG), a Russiancompany owned by Dmitri Troitsky and Dmitri Kozhrev boughtMadneuli for $120 million. According to the <strong>Georgia</strong>n registry,Troitsky, who Forbes rated the 94th richest Russian in 2011,had been a member of the Madneuli oversight board. 365 RMG’sgeneral director is Dima Kalandadze, who had also been general362 Studio GNS report 30/10/11. available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QmSBOji20KM Accessed on04/12/2012363 Cyproman Services Ltd Website http://www.cyproman.com.cy/ Accessed on04/12/2012364 Ibid365 New Owners of Madneuli and Kvartsiti From Russia. Netgazeti.ge http://netgazeti.ge/GE/105/business/10373/ Accessed on 12/12/201290
director of GeoProMining. In 2009, Kalandaze and Nakopiawere involved in GeoProMining’s controversial buyout ofLondon-based Anil Agarwal, in Lake Sevan, Armenia, which hadenvironmentalists in an uproar. 366There is reason to believe that the Caucasus Mining Groupmay have exclusively benefitted from another tender onFebruary 29, 2012, when the Ministry of Energy and NaturalResources held an auction for a 27 year extraction license forgold, copper and other precious minerals. The starting price was110 million GEL, quite a nominal sum for mining a territorythat accounts for most - if not all - of <strong>Georgia</strong>’s gold and copperexports (3.9 & 5% of <strong>Georgia</strong>’s total exports in 2011). <strong>Georgia</strong>exported $110 million of gold and $85 million in copper in 2011alone. 367 Yet, only one company participated in an auction thatlasted one minute. 368 LLC Mining Investments was awarded thelicense for 500,000 GEL above the starting price. The companywas registered just two weeks before the auction was announced.Alvydas Brusokas, a Lithuanian citizen, is the sole owner anddirector of the company. His legal address, Gudiashvili Square4, Tbilisi, is also the address of the law firm, BLC. TransparencyInternational <strong>Georgia</strong>, which had monitored the auction,recognized a gentleman who they believed represented LLCMining Investments and GeoProMining 369 .While the privatization of Chiaturmanganese and Madneuliraise ethical questions regarding transfer of ownership, theoperation of the Tkibuli coal mines concern issues of a morecorporeal nature.366 Armenia: Trying to Find a Balance Between Economic Need andEnvironmental Responsibility. Gayane Abrahamyan. Eurasia.net http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav060309a.shtml Accessed on04/12/2012367 “Attend the largest mining auction in <strong>Georgia</strong>n history!” TransparencyInternational <strong>Georgia</strong> http://transparency.ge/en/blog/attend-largest-miningauction-georgian-history-0Accessed on 04/12/2012368 Mining Auction Fails to Attract Major Investors Transparency International<strong>Georgia</strong>. http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/mining-auction-fails-attractmajor-investorsAccessed on 04/12/2012369 Ibid91
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INTRODUCTIONOne day shopping with m
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closely affiliated to Eduard Shevar
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news to the Autonomous Republic of
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If the authorities had wanted, they
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Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, who was
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Kakhi Beqauri and Eldar Mdinaradze.
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oadcasting 39 but sold the frequenc
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He went on to say that later that d
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with Russia, which sent the nation
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Irakli Okruashvili case in Septembe
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them in the street. They took trans
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Maestro contends the dishes were pa
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In the meantime, Chikovani has rema
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General Media arrived in early 2011
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merger of the Caucasus Network, Geo
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In cases when the owner of a busine
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the shares and LLC Investico Allian
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38WHO OWNED OUTDOOR ADVERTISING?Whe
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