Lawyer: despite blocked Credit Suisse and Julius Baer assets, Bidzina Ivanishvili continues to protect economic stability and charitable activities

Temo Tsikvadze, the lawyer of Bidzina Ivanishvili, on Thursday said that Ivanishvili had accepted that he would not be allowed to dispose of the funds connected to the Credit Suisse case nor the sums accumulated in Julius Baer.

In a social media message, Tsikvadze noted that Ivanishvili continued to maintain economic stability and engage in charitable activities even without access to these funds.

"For the past several days, representatives of the opposition and certain media outlets have been speculating about the court hearing scheduled in London on November 24. Specifically, on that day the third and final instance in the dispute that began in Bermuda will announce its decision in the lawsuit filed by Bidzina Ivanishvili - a case that has been ongoing for several years, with all previous stages ending in our victory”, he said.

“To be honest, we had no intention of making any kind of statement or clarification on this matter, regardless of how the legal dispute would conclude. However, since politicians have turned this topic into a subject of political confrontation, we decided to briefly remind the Georgian public of the developments, because the criminal racketeering carried out against Bidzina Ivanishvili is unprecedented and a classic example of using financial leverage for political persecution”, the lawyer noted.

He emphasised that the political persecution of Mr. Ivanishvili by foreign intelligence services, the so-called deep state, began in 2008 and this was when the previous Government, the United National Movement, rigged the elections and usurped power, prompting Ivanishvili to fully distance himself from this political force.

“They easily recruited a particular individual, Patrice Lescaudron, a personal banker at Credit Suisse, through whom they plundered Mr. Ivanishvili’s accounts. Years later, this individual was found hanging from a tree in the forest, and the case was classified as a suicide before being closed. The intelligence services pushed the situation to the point where, in the process of persecuting Ivanishvili, they effectively destroyed the reputation of the Swiss banking system and brought what was once the world’s top bank, Credit Suisse, to bankruptcy”, Tsikvadze said.

“The legal disputes we have been conducting have continued for more than 10 years. It should be noted that, by its very nature, the case is unprecedentedly simple - the scheme of the entire system robbing a single individual is laid out in plain sight. We succeeded in winning the case litigated in Singapore, and we also prevailed in two court instances in Bermuda. Now the third and highest instance will announce its decision”, he continued.

Tsikvadze further added that in parallel with the court proceedings, the political persecution against Bidzina Ivanishvili over time reached new scales and new peaks of absurdity. Eventually, the previous US administration imposed sanctions on him under the pretext of “advancing Russian interests” in Georgia.

“It is clear that the informal power holders, the so-called deep state - have difficulty controlling judicial systems and legal processes, especially when there is not even a hint of doubt in the case. But they possess many other levers - including the sanctions I mentioned”, he said.

“Aside from the fact that no one from the previous US administration ever explained why these sanctions were imposed - what exactly the “Russian interest” was that Mr. Ivanishvili allegedly advanced in Georgia - the baseless sanction was specifically directed at the funds whose legal fate will be decided in London on November 24. This is one of two major assets Mr. Ivanishvili holds abroad. Sanctioning the funds that my client has not yet been able to recover through legal means was a simple message to us: “You may win in court, but we will still decide whether the asset is returned”, the lawyer said.

“There is another case, even more cynical and blatantly fabricated, in Switzerland, specifically in the Julius Baer bank. Although the sanctions imposed by the previous US administration have no connection whatsoever to these assets, the bank hooliganistically froze both Mr. Ivanishvili’s funds and denied access to the accounts of his wife and children. And if, in the case of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Swiss bank - absurdly, but at least formally, cites US sanctions as a pretext, it cannot provide any explanation for why the funds belonging to his wife and children are frozen. The intelligence services, using the previous administration’s hand, could not impose sanctions on Mr. Ivanishvili’s wife and children for “advancing Russian interests”, because even the deep state would consider that excessive - so where they cannot find formal reasons, they resort to crude, racketeering methods”, he continued.

Tsikvadze mentioned that this was a very brief overview of the processes that had been ongoing for years and had created an unprecedented example of persecution, robbery, and blackmail - all because Ivanishvili had placed Georgia’s national interests above everything else and had refused to become an executor of orders issued by intelligence services, the so-called deep state.

“The sanctions imposed on Bidzina Ivanishvili were imposed precisely by these informal rulers, and in this regard, Trump’s decision will be one of the indicators for us of whether the President’s fight against the deep state is real. As for the speculations by the opposition and their affiliated media regarding the final court hearing in London, the frozen assets, and the alleged additional sanctions expected from the UK, it is unclear what these bankrupt forces are celebrating. Bidzina Ivanishvili knows perfectly well that whatever the outcome of the court proceedings - and most likely, following two previous victories, we will prevail in the third instance as well - the return of these funds will not take place”, he said.

“We also assure the public with full confidence and responsibility that our side did not even know the final decision was scheduled for November 24 - we learned this from public sources. The main reason is that Mr. Ivanishvili fully accepted the fact that neither the funds connected to the Credit Suisse case nor the assets accumulated in Julius Baer (regarding which he no longer even corresponds with the bank because of its unlawful actions) will be released to him or his family members again, due to political persecution and blackmail”, Tsikvadze said.

He highlighted that Mr. Ivanishvili and his family continue, even without access to these funds - on the one hand to safeguard the country’s peace and economic stability, and on the other hand to engage in charitable activities.