Property Sold for 1 lari Purchased for 3, 3 million lari

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Shida Kartli

Late in spring of 2012, large-scaled construction was launched at the entrance to Gori. The territory is located alongside the central motorway and belongs to the territorial entity of Sveneti village. Soon it became known that greenhouse thrift was to be constructed there.

The construction was associated with the name of former prime-minister Vano Merabishvili. Reportedly, Security Police Department was supervising the construction and this institution subordinated to the former Minister of Interior and Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili.

Who constructed the enterprise in fact? What kind of experience does the owner have and where will they get investments? There is no board in the territory of the greenhouse indicating at the owner company. Both the owner and source of funding were secret from the very beginning. With the support of the Information Freedom Institute of Georgia, we learned that Gori Greenhouse Thrift Ltd is the owner of the premise. 

According to the Civil Registration Agency, the Ltd was registered on April 26, 2012 based on the order of Kakha Legashvili, chairman of the Security Police Department. This department was registered as the owner of 100% share in the Ltd and Paata Zurebiani was its director.

On July 25, 2012 Agricultural Development Foundation purchased the 100% share of the Gori Greenhouse Thrift Ltd in the greenhouse for 3 300 00 lari. The foundation was established on December 26, 2011 based on the order of the Minister of Economy. Initially, the board members of the Foundation were Nika Gilauri (former Prime-Minister), Zaza Gorozia (former minister of agriculture), Ramaz Nikolaishvili (former minister of infrastructure), Vera Kobalia (former minister of economy) and other high-ranking officials. In fact, the state paid 3 300 000 lari for the land which was purchased for 1 lari.

On October 17, 2012 President of Georgia passed order according to which agricultural land of 28, 946 sq. meters and non-agricultural land of 4, 351 sq. meters were assigned to the Gori Greenhouse Thrift Ltd for a symbolic price of 1 lari. Both plots are located in Sveneti village.

The Information Freedom Institute published the president’s order. According to it, privatization requirement was to invest no less than 1 million lari in the assigned property.

On November 19, 2012 new board replaced the previous one at the Agricultural Development Foundation; prime-minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili is the head of the new board.