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“Board of Trustees Voted for Corruption”

August 13, 2009

Tako Khutsishvili

The Georgian society does not know why Levan Kubaneishvili left the position of Director-General of the Georgian Public Broadcastin.[the “GPB”]. The  GPB has a new Director-General now –Giorgi Chanturia. He received 5 votes from the Board of Trustees in a secret voting. Giorgi Kacharava and Zviad Koridze, two other candidates for the position, did not receive any votes. We have interviewed Zviad Koridze about the elections:

- Mr. Zviad what would you say about the election of the Director-General of GPB?

- I had hoped that the Board would have been free from political pressure and would have made an independent decision. It was the right time –neither the opposition nor the government was very active politically. The Board had a very simple task--it was to decide between the old system and changes. The old editorial staff was not quite independent; the programs were of low quality and were not relevant to the public. The Public Broadcasting was involved in corruption. The Board could have voted for changes and say that Public Broadcasting must become a truly strong institution that has theconfidence of the public.

- Was this mentioned in your program?

- Of course… Mr. Giorgi Kachara spoke about his priorities such as production of TV serials and so on. His priority was mostly production of commercial programs. I respect this idea but he should have realized that we are talking about the Public Broadcasting which is not oriented only to commercial projects. This is the TV station that serves the society and is financed by the society.

The Board had to make important decision.  The Board said –I prefer Giorgi Chanturia, a person who makes programs of low quality, violates the law and is a member of the tender commission that grants money to various studios outside the broadcasting. Even though Gia Chanturia gave away his share in a cartoon film production company 3 years ago his former studio won in several tenders in GPB last year. 

During a debate I asked him if he takes responsibility for the developments in the GPB of recent years when he was Deputy Director-General. He says that he takes the responsibility for the aspects that fell under his responsibility. However, it is impossible to look at this issue so simply because a TV is an organization that is managed by a group. Therefore, he cannot duck from responsibility.  The Board of Trustees has its share of responsibility as well. Without the consent and good disposition toward corruption of the Board of Trustees, probably Levan Kubaneishvili and Gia Chanturia could not have dared so many things. I assume that the 5 old board members voted for Gia Chanturia and the 3 new ones made a very compromising decision when they refused to vote for any candidate. Such inaction is more dangerous than action. 

- Do you think that real changes will be made in the GPB?

- I doubt that. I think the board and the administration will follow the policy that had been followed in the last year and a half.

- Then why do you think Levan Kubaneishvili resigned?

- He has not commented on his resignation and this is very bad. he had some accountability  to society.

It is the fact that a great amount of money was spent to close the TV Company “Imedi.” The decision to invade and raid the TV Company was not made that night. It was a long-term plan that cost a great amount of money. The money was obtained from a certain black cashbox which was transferred to the cashbox of the TBC TV Studio and was wasted on the employment of the people, on high salaries and new TV projects. When Levan Kubaneishvili, the former Director-General of the Public Broadcasting, was being elected,  a very interesting amendment to the Statute was made. Until then the Georgian Public Broadcasting had obtained 0.15% from the Common National Product but now it is financed directly from the State budget. In 2008 0.15% of the total common national product was 17 millions of GEL, but the Government turned out to be very kind and provided the TV Company with 25.5 millions of GEL. I think that the 8.5 millions of GEL which was distributed to the TV Company in 2009 was the exact amount of the money wasted for the closure of the TV Company “Imedi”. That’s why 72% of the money for the tenders was transferred to the TBC TV Studio. For an instance, the new TV program “Didi Ateuli” (Ten Great People) and “Life is Beautiful” were financed without holding any tender. Obviously, the fact is  this has the signs of  corruption and the Board of Trustees of the GPB did not do anything to prevent it. On the contrary, it welcomed  the corruption, so it is the most fallacious event which has taken place in the Public Broadcasting in the recent time. Unfortunately, today the Board of Trustees support carrying out the same policy.

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