Clarifications on the conflicts between Government and Ivanishvili's Cartu Bank

Cartu Bank, owned by Georgian billionaire, Bidzina Ivanishvili, released another statement on November 14, where the bank leadership again blamed the Georgian Government “for illegal actions and deliberate violence against the bank. The bank authorities underlined “the threats new legislative changes might cause for the Georgian banking system".

As the Bank reports, "Based on the politically motivated actions from the Georgian Government and the permanent pressure exercised on the Bank’s clients, a loss of GEL 45 million was suffered after Ivanishvili announced he would enter politics." In addition, USD 2 million and Euro 1 million were sequestered by police. The Bank also raised the issue of bizarre statements by Petre Tsiskarishvili, majority MP on November 8 alluding to Israel, as incomprehensible and unrelated to the issues. One more issue the Bank touched upon was the new law being adopted by Parliament on the Article #823 on “enforcement proceedings “. Cartu Bank claims this change is a serious blow to the banking system of Georgia and for the Georgian government's international image.

Cartu also claims that two years ago a similar initiative was blocked due to the common accord of the Georgian banking system," but that currently no Georgian bank has protested. According to Cartu Bank this raises suspicions that the decision was politically motivated and would be used as a weapon only against Cartu.” The bank appealed to National Bank of Georgia and Georgian banks in general to react to the situation.

It became clear, after release of the statement, that the Georgian Business Ombudsman, Giorgi Pertaia , only gets his information on bank issues through the media. According to him, Cartu Bank has not applied to his office and says that some of the complaints are baseless as "such practices are common in many European states" and that before making any statements “it would be better to become familiar with international practices.” As for Catru Bank’s problem, he stated that if the Bank applies to the Business Ombudsmen, the office will work on the issue if it is a problem in the banking system in general. "However, we are not oriented towards protecting any private business.”

The Messenger contacted the National Bank of Georgia. The Head of the Public Relations Services, Kakha Barabadze, said a draft of the law is being sent to Parliament and it would be better to contact them. However he did not respond to how this amendment would impact the Georgian banking system. As for Cartu Bank, Barabadze mentioned that NBG has already taken a position. ( NBG stated previously that it was ready to allocate a loan to Cartu during the time that the bank funds are sequestered, that the issue was not to be politicized, and at the same time the National Bank stated Cartu Bank leadership did not permit it to carry out proper investigations within the bank.) .