Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Present for the Hospitability of the President

June 11, 2009

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

In 2005 Levan Akhalauri was head of agriculture department in Telavi District; and he caused damage of 305 000 GEL to the state budget. Despite that Akhalauri was promoted in position. In 2006 he was appointed as an assistant to Telavi district governor; since February 2007 he is chairperson of Telavi Municipality Board. Investigation against him started under charge of abusing professional power however Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office dropped the process because of “lack of evidence of the crime.”

Confiscation of “Sakabreshumi”

A branch of the JSC “Sakabreshumi”-Telavi Drain Factory and Selection Station had owned a lot in the village of Vardisubani since 1985 where representatives of “Sakabreshumi” had started a mulberry plantation. Based on the resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Georgia issued in 1997 the Telavi district administration on June 26, 1998 assigned to the Telavi Drain Fasctory mulberry plantations in the Telavi district with  a total area of 59,1 hectares. The factory leased the land. The factory was a branch of the JSC “Sakabreshumi” in theTelavi district. The mulberry plantation in the village of Vardisubani was within the land that was assigned to the factory under lease and it covered 4, 3 hectares of plantation. The lease agreement was drawn up in the name of Murad Aivazashvili, director of the drain factory.

Over the years the factory paid the rent due under the lease and after the factory was sold the Selection Station started to pay the rent due under the lease for the mulberry plantation in the village of Vardisubani. This fact is registered at Telavi Tax Inspection.

In order to develop the silk-producing industry, in June of 2005 Nodar Sakuashvili, a resident of the village of Saniore in the Telavi district, applied to the Commission on Leasing Agricultural Land within the Telavi district administration. Sakuashvili requested to lease the land in Vardisubani that was at that time leased by the Selection Station. Sakuashvili was famous for his hospitability to President Saakashvili and his family. 

On July 26, 2005 the commission held a meeting and decided to cancel the lease agreement with Murad Aivazashvili, director of the Telavi Selection Station, for having a debt to the budget of 448 GEL.

According to resolution N 446 of the President of Georgia, issued on August 2, 1998 on Leasing Agricultural Land the plot was to be leased out only through competition. The law prohibits assigning the appropriated land to another owner without announcing the competition. Despite that, on the same session the commission decided to lease the plot to Nodar Sakuashvili for 49 years.

Violations

The commission in its decision to cancel the lease contract with Aivazashvili stated that leasor Aivazashvili had a debt of 448 GEL to the state. In fact, according to the official data of the Telavi Tax Inspection, when the lease contract was cancelled the leasor had paid an extra 70 GEL to the budget. And there is a list of 176 private and legal persons at the Telavi Tax Inspection who had a debt to the budget of more than 1,000 GEL.. 14 private and legal persons had a debt of more than 10,000 GEL. Nodar Sakuashvili owed 30,414 GEL to the budget.

In addition to that, Chapter II, Paragraph 4 of the Resolution on the Rule of Leasing Agricultural Land states that selection stations can be leased out only on permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Georgia. The Telavi district commission on leasing agricultural land did not have such permission.

Despite so many violations, on August 10, 2005 The Telavi District Administration passed resolution N 163 and approved the illegal decision of the commission.

On August 18, 2005 in the name of the Telavi district administration Levan Akhalauri signed the agreement with Nodar Sakuashvili regarding the plot with 2,030 mulberry trees on it. According to the current legislation Akhalauri was entitled to include the mulberry trees in the agreement and estimate the payment for enjoying the plot. However, the agreement does not provide any information about the trees and the payment for the plantation is is not fixed.

The Court Acted As an Attorney for a Private Person

On January 3 2006 a representative of the JSC “Sakabreshumi”, Eter Minadze, appealed to the Telavi District Court and requested to annul resolution N 163 of the Telavi district administration issued on August 10 2005.

Minadze stressed in her appeal that the Telavi District Administration had breached the General Administrative Code of Georgia. The “Commission on Leasing Agricultural Land cancelled the lease contract with Murad Aivazashvili, director of the Telavi Selection Station, because he had debt to the budget. The commission had not informed Aivazashvili about its intention to discuss the issue and he was not granted the opportunity to provide his opinion before the Commission made its decision.”

Although the Commission and Telavi District Administration breached the law when making the decision, on March 31, 2006 the Telavi district court rendered its judgment and dropped the discussion of Eter Minadze’s appeal as inadmissible.

The court pointed to the Article 22, Part II of the Administrative Procedural Code of Georgia based on which the administrative-legal acts of the Telavi district administration directly or indirectly damaged the legal right and interests of the JSC “Sakabreshumi”.

The judgment of the Judge Natela Jashiashvili states that lease agreement was signed with Murad Aivazashvili as a private person and the legal entity-Telavi Selection State and its director are not mentioned in the agreement at all. “Although a legal entity is mentioned in the note about the plan of the plot on the second page of the agreement, it is not specified which legal entity the note deals with,” said the judge.

Civil Procedural Code states that if the court does not accept the appeal because the contested administrative-legal act does not directly or indirectly damage the complainant; , the court shall not discuss the issues raised in the appeal.

The judgment states: “Murad Aivazashvili failed to insure the profitableness of the plantation and could not even pay the minimum rent – 6 GEL – for it. Nodar Sakuashvili had to pay 43 GEL for one hectare of land. The administration is entitled to cancel the agreement with Murad Aivazashvili.”

A representative of the JSC “Sakabreshumi” appealed the judgment of the Telavi District Court to the Tbilisi Appeal Court but in vain. On September 15, 2006 the Appeal Court did not change the initial judgment based on the same grounds.

On November 10, 2006 Nodar Sakuashvili purchased the leased plot for 899 GEL from the state and 2 030 mulberry trees on it were cut down. Consequently, the JSC “Sakabreshumi”, the owner of the mulberry trees, was damaged by 305 000 GEL. The stockholder of the JSC is the state.

As a Result of Consulting with the Prosecutor’s Office

On February 7 2007 Eter MInadze appealed to Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office and requested to initiate a criminal prosecution of governmental officials. The investigation started under Article 332, Part I of the Criminal Code of Georgia (abusing professional power).

During the investigation on August 3, 2007 the Telavi Municipality Board (Chairperson Levan Akhalauri) issued the resolution which cancelled part of resolution N 163 of the Telavi district administration enacted on August 10, 2005 on abolishing the lease agreement with Murad Aivazashvili for the debt of 448 GEL on the 3, 5 hectares of land. According to the Paragraph II of the same resolution the part of the resolution which assigned the plot to Nodar Sakuashvili was also cancelled.

 “Consequently, under resolution N 127 of the Telavi Municipality Board issued on August 3, 2007 the lease agreement on the plantation was restored. Based on that, the Telavi district administration did not commit a crime and a preliminary investigation against officials from the district administration was dropped on November 15, 2007,” said Vazha Maghradze, deputy Kakheti regional prosecutor.

This resolution was appealed by Eter Minadze at the Telavi district court and she requested to annul it based on the following argument: “By assigning the plantation to Nodar Sakuashvili the mulberry trees on the land, planted by the JSC “Sakabreshumi”, were cut down; the total damage amounted to 305,000 GEL. After this fact the prospect of developing a silk industry in Kakheti region has finally collapsed.”

The Telavi district court did not grant the suit of Eter Minadze, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the “Sakabreshuni”. “There is no legal ground to cancel the decision of the prosecutor’s office,” said Judge Nunu Nesmitsveradze.

News