Mortal Combat for the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant
2009-11-20 18:23
The foreign investor reproached the Georgian government for its inability to protect private property. On the background of endless groaning of functionaries on how Georgia needs investments the indifference to the situation of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant is unclear. The director of the British company «Thames Steels» that used to own plant assets made a declaration on the violation of legal owners' rights and on complicity of Georgian courts with criminal organizations.
The Georgian authorities helped criminals take away the shares of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant from its legal owners. This was declared by Thomas Blake, CEO of the British company "Thames Steels" (Thames Steel UK Limited) during his recent press conference in Tbilisi.
He said that the JSC «Kartuli Poladi» («Georgian Steel») and «Tudji XXI» («Cast Iron 21») were transferred to the «Kolkhi Business Corporation» creditor company.
They did not manage to sell them at an auction, as nobody ventured to buy disputable assets. Right after the bidding that was held on 4 November by the executive office of the Ministry of Justice the enterprises were given to the creditors.
Blake states that the company's shares were collected illegally. «The Georgian court helped a criminal group with its decision not allowing «Thames Steels» to provide legal and management control over its assets in Georgia. At the same time the court supported the enforcement process that was performed against our holding company in a non-transparent, unfair and unfounded way», - noted Thomas Blake.
The British company has already addressed both President Mikhail Saakashvili and Prime Minister Nika Gilauri asking for help, but these requests remained without response. «Unfortunately the government is focused only on attracting investments but is not worried about their protection», stressed a representative of the British company in Georgia.
In his words, now they are destroying the property of the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant, machines are taken away as scrap metal, spare parts and raw materials are sold.
According to Blake, the problems with the managing team of the plant started after the order of the British company management on the dismissal of Joseph Key, member of the Supervisory Board.
According to the data of the «Business Georgia» portal, «Thames Steels» owns the «Energy and Industry» LLC, which, in its turn, owns the «Kartuli Poladi» and «Tudji XXI» JSCs.
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