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Israeli president calls to inquire about businessmen detained in Georgia

19 October 2010 21:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israeli President Shimon Peres has reportedly called his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili to inquire about the well-being of two Israeli businessmen currently held in Georgia for bribery allegations, media reports said on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

The administration of the Georgian presidency made no comment on the phone call.

"On behalf of the president, I can only state at this stage that investigation is ongoing, and it would only be appropriate to make comments when the investigation is over," said Saakashvili’s spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze.

"There is law and everyone must abide by the law," the Civil.ge news service quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Israeli businessman Ron Fuchs was detained along with countryman Zeev Frenkiel on Oct. 14 in Georgia’s Black Sea resort of Batumi and the duo were charged with an attempt to bribe Georgian Deputy Finance Minister Avtandil Kharaidze.

The Tbilisi City Court denied on Oct. 16 bail to both men and sentenced them to two months of pre-trial detention.

According to the Georgian prosecutors, Fuchs and Frenkiel were trying to bribe the deputy finance minister by offering the Georgian official with 7 million U.S. dollars in exchange for " convincing the Georgian government" not to challenge a decision of an international arbitration which had earlier this year awarded Fuchs and his Greek business partner Ioannis Kardassopoulos a total of 98.1 million dollars to be paid by the Georgian state.

The Georgian state has challenged the arbitration by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The arbitration related to a Georgian government reversal about a deal that in 1992 had offered the Fuchs and Kardassopoulos firm of Tramex the rights to develop Georgia’s pipeline network and other energy infrastructure.

The Tbilisi City Court has also ruled in absentia a two-month pre-trial detention against Kardassopoulos and the Greek is now wanted by the Georgian law-enforcement agencies.

Fuchs’ defense lawyer Archil Kbilashvili said that the detention was linked with the case which Fuchs had won against the state of Georgia in the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is an institution under the World Bank group.

The defense lawyer also said that Fuchs had arrived in Georgia for negotiations with the government.