The FINANCIAL — According to Civil Georgia, Badri Patarkatsishvili, a presidential candidate, said in a written statement that the authorities’ allegation that he and his allies were plotting a coup was “yet another provocation.”
The General Prosecutor’s Office said on December 24 that MP Valery Gelbakhiani, who is head of presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili’s campaign headquarters, was suspected of conspiracy to overthrow the government. To back its allegations, the General Prosecutor’s Office, released covertly recorded video tape of meeting between MP Gelbakhiani and Irakli Kodua, head of the Interior Ministry’s Special Operations Department (SOD). The latter was acting under cover as if wanted to ally with Patarkatsishvili’s team, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office. Kodua has also met with Patarkatsishvili in London, which was confirmed by the tycoon as well.
“On December 23, 2007 at the request of Irakli Kodua, I met with him in London,” Patarkatsishvili said in a statement. “Valery Gelbakhiani told me that Kodua wanted to meet with me. I guessed that it was yet another provocation staged by the authorities, so I asked my security to make audio and video records of this meeting. This provocation once again confirms that the accusations raised by the authorities against me are groundless. I have asked my lawyers in Great Britain to inform Scotland Yard about one more provocation planned by the Georgian authorities. Saakashvili’s regime has finally showed to the society that he has exhausted all the political resources of winning the elections.”
MP Gelbakhiani has also confirmed that he met with Kodua, but said that tape was edited. He told Rustavi 2 TV in a phone conversation that his major goal was to have an ally within the Interior Ministry so that to prevent break up of possible protest rallies after the January 5 elections.
In a taped video Gelbakhiani tells the interior ministry official that he also had contacts with “Gachechiladze’s team” – referring to presidential candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, who is backed by the nine-party opposition coalition. Political figures from the coalition, however, have immediately denied having link with the alleged plot.
Davit Usupashvili, the leader of Republican Party, said that the bloc had relations with Patarkatsishvili “and also with other presidential candidates” but these relations were mainly about election tactics, which had nothing to do “with what we have seen today.”
“We are only preparing for the January 5 [elections] and these are all attempts by the authorities to distract public attention from [January 5] to other issues,” Kakha Kukava, the leader of Conservative Party, said.
MP Zurab Tkemaladze, the leader of Industrialist Party, which backs Davit Gamkrelidze’s presidential candidacy, said the issue was “a very serious case” which needed a fair investigation, but he also added: “It is so difficult now to understand who is playing whose game.”
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