Investigation begins into leaked phone calls around Iberia TV case

The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into an audio recording of a phone call that surfaced two days ago that was allegedly held between former sports minister Levan Kipiani and the owner of Iberia TV Zaza Okuashvili.

In the conversation, Kipiani allegedly says that Bidzina Ivanishvili’s cousin Ucha Mamatsashvili has offered to mediate the TV channel’s financial issues with the government for two million dollars.

The TV channel is about to stop broadcasting because the financial assets of the Omega Group, which owns the television channel, have been frozen.

The Georgian Ministry of Finances states that the Omega Group has a debt of GEL 51.7 million in unpaid taxes.

The Prosecutor’s Office has launched the investigation under the article of “acquiring large sums of money through fraud and extortion”.

Ucha Mamatsashvili has denied the veracity of the claims made in the telephone conversation between Kipiani and Okuashvili.