Editors of the Georgian Business Week Newspaper Request to Pay Salary Arrears

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Former employees of the Georgian Business Week newspaper request repayment of salary debts and accuse the newspaper in ignoring Court verdict.

According to the Executive Director of Georgian Business Week Ltd. Mariam Toidze the company has gone bankrupt and is incapable to pay the salary arrears to the editor-in-chief Maia Edilashvili and Executive Editor Nino Edilashvili; total sum of the arrears amounted more than 10 000 GEL.

Nino and Maia Edilashvili have worked for the Georgian Business Week Ltd:  Nino Edilashvili as an Executive Editor from May 1 2008 through October 14 2009 and Maia Edilashvili as Editor-in-Chief from May 1 2007 through October 14 2009.

Journalists indicate that the Georgian Business Week, management of which claims the company has gone bankrupt, has not appealed to the court for launching case of payment incapability (bankruptcy) for three years.  Additionally, former editor-in-chief of Georgian Business Week says, the bankrupt company manages to cooperate with large business companies and state bodies, including the National Investment Agency.
“The National Bureau of Execution has sequestered the bank account of the newspaper, so apparently, they are conducting financial operations secretly – money is tranfered from other accounts; it is the fact that the newspaper is still published,” Maia Edilashvili said.

According to her, the Georgian Business Week has strong lobbies who enable the publishers to avoid execution of the Court verdict.

Georgian Business Week Ltd is part of the Georgian Media Development Holding which owns shares of the TV-company Mze, broadcasting company Rustavi2 and TV-company First Stereo; it also owns the news agency GBC News.

Owner of the Georgian Media Development Holding is the Georgian Industrial Group, co-founded by a member of the Parliamentary majority David Bezhuashvili.

Media Legal Protection Centre of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) “categorically calls on the Georgian Business Week management to stop violating the rights of journalists and immediately execute the coinciding Court verdict” is said in the December 12 statement by the Media Legal Protection Centre.

“Although they have been executing their duties properly, the Georgian Business Week Ltd. had not paid their salaries for months.  The employer did reimburse their salary arrears even after the journalists were sacked from the company,” the statement from the Media Legal Protection Centre reads.

Media Legal Protection Centre stresses that with their support the journalists lodged a lawsuit to the court requesting repayment of the salary debt.  According to June 11 2010 unattended verdict of the Tbilisi City Court (leaving in force the September 29 2010 verdict by the Tbilisi City Court) Georgian Business Week Ltd. has been assigned to pay a fine of 0.07% for every overdue day of payment of salary from October 14 2009, which in total equals GEL 9050 (nine thousand fifty).

“It is a pity that the operating media organization has not executed the Court verdict yet and has not covered the salary arrears for the journalists,” the Centre statement reads.