Press Digest 04.09.2014

Debts and financial failure – precious gifts from KaZantip

Criminals must be punished because of demolishing the old parliament building … all official papers concerning this issue vanished without trace -- Gia Tsagareishvili

Giorgi Gugava: they must publicize all information regarding the bank accounts of not only the former but also the acting authorities

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Debts and financial failure – precious gifts from KaZantip

"Instead of 60 thousand guests, only 12,000 visitors, instead of 40 million GEL income, debts – the locals of Anaklia cannot hide their total dissatisfaction with the KaZantip Festival. The situation is more stable in the hotels; unlike the locals, their managers have not plunged into debts; however, they have also refused to talk regarding “windfall profits,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.

“The KaZantip Festival has brought nothing but debts to the residents of Anaklia. High prices on products, the closure of Larsi and mismanagement of the festival have, allegedly, produced all these negative repercussions. Reports go that as many as 12 thousand visitors have entered Anaklia; however, as the locals claim, the number of the vacationers did not exceed 5000. Hotels appear to be in better conditions than the locals; however, talks regarding any kind of unprecedented income are nothing more than ridiculous,” says the article.

“If compared with August 2013, I cannot say that anything has changed in our hotel. It is small and all 42 rooms were booked beforehand by foreign guests: Russians, British, Americans etc. Nothing has changed for better here during the festival,” claims executive manager of one of the hotels in Anaklia, Shorena Uchaneishvili.

Allegedly, the only hotel that has gained profit during the festival was “Palm Beach,”which worked around the clock and received guests around the clock,” the article says.

“The vacationers obviously spent money here, as the restaurant worked in a 24 hour mode; nothing in particular has changed on this season though; the number of guests remained the same. The only difference or “novelty” was that now the participants of the festival visited us, while in the previous years – ordinary vacationers,” states the “Palm Beach” manager.

“However, unlike the hotel managers, the finances of the residents of Anaklia are on the rocks – to their consternation, after the festival they gained nothing but debts. As they complained to Rezonansi, their expectations have remained unmet. They also informed us that nothing on earth can indemnify their financial loss after the festival, as to please their guests and provide them with the best food and lodging they have taken out loans from banks. Expectations were big, disappointment -- even bigger. The locals thought that money would be channeled into their pockets and they would strike it rich; all their plans were ruined like castles in the sand though.

To cut it short, as the locals see it, the festival was improperly organized from the very start and it was doomed to failure in advance,” concludes the author of the article.

Criminals must be punished because of demolishing the old parliament building … all official papers concerning this issue vanished without trace -- Gia Tsagareishvili

"They will not be able to get away with everything; having leveled this building to the ground, they will really not manage to get off scot-free; I myself witnessed how fast the workers ruined this building, with what great relish they worked as this people gave them 50 GEL per day from the country’s budget to do away with the building as soon as possible. Later they took on more qualified workers, and in a few days the imposing building was reduced to rubble. They destroyed everything here; the whole building including the session halls under the name of Ilia the right as well as the film center was destroyed so that it would be impossible to be restored later. The historic podium at which Georgia’s first President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, announced the independence of our country was demolished too,” claim member of the majority, Gia Tsagareishvili in his interview with the Alia gazette.

“We allocated as much as 22 million GEL to restore this building and give it a new lease of life. Supposedly, the Nationals have withdrawn precisely this sum of money from Georgia’s budget for private purposes. However, I cannot say this for certain as this issue needs a thorough looking-over. As for the companies involved in the building demolishing process, one of them won a tender; if my memory serves me right, this company was the private property of the Nationals’ relatives. Obviously, they helped their relatives in making money that even without them are constantly on the make. It’s without question that this building would not have been ruined if not for Davit Bakradze and Mikheil Machavariani. First the investigators must hold these people accountable for what they have done and then they will soon get hold of a key protagonist and initiator of destroying the building, ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili,” maintains Mr. Tsagareishvili.

"Mr. Bakradze and Machavariani committed several criminal offences; they have misused their power, they have underfunded the state budget and they have dragged our country into a ditch. Frankly speaking, my colleagues have disappointed me – due to some obscure reasons, they are dumb as oysters and obstinately keep silent. I think that they must voice concerns and must urge the Government to give the offenders their due. Advanced technology, latest equipment, everything vanished somewhere. How can the wrongdoers get away with this? I call on the representatives of the Prosecutor’s office to roll up their sleeves and tackle the issue,” says the respondent.

"All the signs pointing at the committed crime are on the surface and the investigators will not need to rack their brains on how to solve the case. In addition, there are a number of witnesses that can incriminate offenders. These people will assist the investigators in getting hold of the criminals. The only thing what they have left is to incarcerate them. We need criminals behind the bars,” announces Gia Tsagareishvili.

“The Alia gazette contacted Deputy Chief of the Parliament, Shota Goshadze, for further details regarding the issue. As he informed us, all materials and documents regarding the companies involved in the building demolition have vanished without trace. Mr. Gochadze presumes that the Nationals must have tried hard to bar their access to these documents,” concludes the author of the article.

Giorgi Gugava: they must publicize all information regarding the bank accounts of not only the former but also the acting authorities

"Woe to us but something makes me think that the NATO Wales Summit will not bring any kind of tangible positive results to Georgia. We should set to tackling our problems and establish order in the country that is in a state of complete disarray at this point in time. Alliances cannot really be defined as a recipe for success – how can they lead us out of this straightforward dead-end situation? How can we hope that having become full members of NATO, some kind people will appear out of nowhere and will put their heads together to resolve our problems? If we fail to handle problems inside the country nothing on earth and especially MAP will see us through this crisis,” states the Labor Party political secretary, Giorgi Gugava, in his interview with the Akhali Taoba gazette.

"No promising prospects can shine on us under the present circumstances. They’d better wake up and provide a solution for our present problems. On 1 September, they brought into force a new bill on medicines, on the basis of which, they banned the people from purchasing medications without a prescription from a doctor. This seemingly insignificant issue is actually a really grave problem in our reality. When a country abounds with socially vulnerable people, when the pharmacy network is in the hands of some oligarchs, when the medications are extremely expensive, how can you oblige a hapless Georgian to visit a doctor and pay additional money for receiving a prescription? Do you know what this mean? They are simply making their business at the expense of our people’s lives. Is this a less terrible crime than trafficking or drug trade? I don’t really think so,” contends Mr. Gugava.

“As for their initiation on making a vehicle inspection mandatory, I don’t think that this was a timely decision. When the people live a hardscrabble life, when in many cases, their cars are their bread and butter and the only means of subsistence, how can you commit them to European standards? In the wake of their irrational policy, unemployment rate has catastrophically increased in the country, students cannot pay their tuition fees, and around 300 infants die from malnutrition annually, while the Government is enjoying fringe benefits, spend their vacations abroad and are involved in disgraceful political tit-for-tats,” says the respondent.

“The billionaire tycoon has brought this country and now along with his entourage, he is staging the spectacle of Saakshvili’s imprisonment. This man enjoyed impunity for a year after Ivanishvili came into power. They could have easily incarcerated Saakashvili but they let them go abroad. They know perfectly well that the West will not allow them to get hold of the ex-President. As for Davit Bakradze’s bank accounts, they must publicize all information regarding the bank accounts of not only the former but also the acting authorities. The new authorities are engaged in contriving similar schemes the old Government brewed. They are simply following in their footsteps. And when it comes to the restoration of justice, no one must enjoy immunity from punishment neither the old nor the present top officials; everyone must be given their due,” alleges the respondent.