Page 29 - GEORptFeb19

“Rumors... are nonsense”
Regulatory fine
made any repayment on the loan.
The loans “were written off in such a manner that these companies have not paid any commissions and these loans have not been repaid to the bank”, the prosecutors said.
Statements made by Khazaradze’s lawyer show that the bank chairman has stated that the loan made to him and Japaridze has been repaid from borrowings provided by unspecified natural persons. But, without explaining the point further, POG noted that Khazaradze and Japaridze were yet to repay a loan from the Samgori firms.
“The rumors about money laundering are nonsense. The operation was absolutely open and transparent,” Zviad Kordzadze, Khazaradze’s lawyer, argued in comments reported by Georgia Today on January 9. He confirmed to the publication that Khazaradze had been questioned by POG representatives several days prior to the new year.
The owner of the Samgori companies, Vakhtang Tsereteli, said in a Facebook post quoted by commersant.ge that the borrowing of $17mn from TBC and the transfer of the lending contract to make the offshore company the debtor was legitimate business.
TBC Bank subsidiary TBC Bank JSC, meanwhile, on January 9 released a statement through the London Stock Exchange saying it had been fined Georgian lari (GEL) 1mn (GBP295,000) by Georgia’s central bank, the National Bank of Georgia, over historic “certain transactions” in 2007 and 2008.
It said the regulator claimed that these transactions, which the regulator believed were related to the chairman and deputy chairman of TBC, did not comply with relevant Georgian law concerning conflicts of interest.
TBC Bank JSC added that these transactions took place before its 2014 initial public offering and were already subject to a National Bank of Georgia inspection in 2008, which did not result in any action being taken at that time.
It was "unclear" if further sanctions would be imposed, TBC Bank JSC said, noting TBC had already challenged the fine in the Georgian courts and an injunction suspending the fine's payment had been issued.
The POG was also investigating the 2007 and 2008 transactions and TBC Bank's subsidiary, while denying the allegations, planned to "vigorously defend its position".
"It is not currently expected that these matters will result in any material consequences for the group," TBC Bank JSC said.
TBC Bank, together with its subsidiaries, says it is the leading universal banking group in Georgia, with a total market share of 38.4% of loans and 40.3% of non-banking deposits as of 30 September 2018, according to data published by the National Bank of Georgia.
29 GEORGIA Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com