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Inventarization of Mediapalitra Finished, Tax Inspection Underway

June 9, 2011

Aleksi Bezhanishvili

Civil society observes the unscheduled inspection of the media holding Mediapalitra with alarm. The inspection unexpectedly started on June 7th by the Revenue Service which simultaneously sealed 6 enterprises of Mediapalitra. As a result of consolidated protest of Georgian mass media and civil society, several Ltds were unsealed but the enterprises still face obstacles.

The main editor of the newspaper Kviris Palitra Goga Tevdorashvili talked about the details of inspection.

“All Ltds are part of our holding and ensure the unhampered work of the holding. The printing of the newspapers was hindered, the distribution was hampered. The newspapers were printed 4 hours late. This is unpleasant fact. Other newspapers are also printed there. In about 3-4 days we will see to what it is linked to,” – states Goga Tevdorashvili the main editor of Kviris Palitra to the correspondent of the newspaper Akhali Taoba.

The employees of Revenue Service are continuing their work in the printing house of the Ltd Publishing House Color of Mediapalitra. Due to the controlling works in the printing house the press distribution has been hampered.

As the general director of the printing house Davit Begiashvili stated to Palitra TV, the officials of the Revenue Service are registering the house production. According to Begiashvili explanation, the storehouse which provides the printing house with paper is sealed.

According to Begiashvili, the work process has been hampered. The representatives of Revenue Service appeared in the printing house on June 7th in the evening. They presented the order according to which they started working since the evening of June 7th in the territory of the Ltd Publishing House Color.

On May 7th the officials of Audit Department of Revenue Service sealed one of the enterprises located in Africa settlement of Tbilisi. As the Department employees stated to Palitra TV, the seals were temporal and the next morning the employees of enterprise would continue working as usual.

The deputy head of Control Agency of Prevention Department of Revenue Service Nugzar Tsulukidze stated that they are conducting scheduled inspection of Mediapalitra. On May 7th the preliminary procedure took place which envisages the inventarization of the process. According to him, the storehouses have not been sealed and their functioning has not been hampered: “We have not hindered the process. When the enterprise completed its work, it was locked. This procedure does not aim to hinder the work process. We are ready for cooperation.”

According to Nugzar Tsulukidze, the inventarization process does not envisage the preliminary notification. “As for the document revision, the notification has already been made about this and you can check it everywhere. The inspections are taking place in general and not only in case of Mediapalitra,” – stated Tsulukidze and added that any enterprise of Mediapalitra will be able to renew their work as soon as they wish to do so.

“This is not sealing,” – emphasized Tsulukidze and explained that the enterprises were locked up until it was necessary to renew their functioning.

In the morning of May 8th, the officials of Revenue Service unsealed the enterprises. According to interpressnews, the work in the storehouses of Palitra L proceeds under the supervision of audit. However, it is unknown yet whether the storehouses will be locked or not.

As the head of the Officers Agency of Prevention Department of Revenue Service Davit Koghuashvili stated the process of sealing of enterprises will continue until the accounting balance is presented and then it is compared to the factual balance.

“In the beginning they stated that it was scheduled inspection. Now they state that is inventarization. Tomorrow they might say that they got mixed up with the address and that they are sorry or on the contrary – they might confiscate it. We do not know what they will do. That is why we are requesting and demanding that the Revenue Service makes this process transparent on time. Also it is very important that the maximum public control is exercised – the public has a right to know what is going on in Mediapalitra. We are addressing the international journalistic organization and diplomatic corpus to concentrate attention so the freedom of speech is not restricted. I hope that the Mediapalitra will not be published for honest reporting,” – states Zviad Koridze, the head of the Council of Journalistic Ethics Charter to Akhali Taoba.

The resonant action of journalists woke up the Public Relations Department of Revenue Service. On June 9th the Department disseminated one more statement and notified the public that the Revenue Service already finished the inventarization in three enterprises of Mediapalitra (Ltd JEP, Ltd Publishing House Color, Ltd Polygraph Material).

“As I noted before, the inventarization is simple and short procedure. The Revenue Service completed this process in two days in the abovementioned enterprises. At this stage the scheduled inventarization is taking place only in one organization of Mediapalitra –Ltd Publishing House Palitra L. The inventarization process in the Pubishing House Palitra L will end soon and this process will not hinder the work of the organization,” – reads the Revenue Service statement.

On June 9th the statement was disseminated by Mediapalitra as well:

“On June 7th the inspection simultaneously started in six Ltds of Mediapalitra; the enterprises of four companies have been sealed for the inventarization.

Mediapalitra is not against the tax inspection, but the simultaneous inspection in 6 different Ltds raises logical doubt and leads to alarm that this might be deliberate attempt to pressure the population.

The news agencies of Mediapalitra holding are continuing to work as usual, but there were some obstacles noted regarding the distribution of newspapers due to controlling works in the morning. It should be noted that there are other newspapers and magazines printed in this printing house except for the Mediapalitra publications.

Mediapalitra represents a holding which unites various media outlets (printed, internet, radio) and their services (service for press dissemination, printing house, publishing house, network of book stores, the company importing the paper and polygraph materials and etc…).

Approximately thousand people are employed in different enterprises of Mediapalitra.

Mediapalitra thanks every organization and individual who expressed their support to them.”

As for the tax inspection which will be the next stage of the inventarization, the officials of the Revenue Service had left the notification in all six companies of Mediapalitra on June 7th. According to interpressnews, the notification states that the tax inspection of these enterprises will start in about ten days. Thus the civil society has a big struggle ahead for the protection of Mediapalitra and freedom of speech.

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