On April 12, 2023, the following comment of US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, regarding the BBC’s journalistic investigation on Davit Kezerashvili, the former Minister of Defense of Georgia and the founder of “TV Formula,” was disseminated on social media: “Davit Kezerashvili is probably innocent.”
The disseminated information, as if, according to Kelly Degnan, Davit Kezerashvili is probably innocent, is false. Kelly Degnan spoke to “Netgazeti” about the BBC investigation. In her comment, Degnan noted that she did not have the opportunity to get acquainted with the whole story; however, she stressed that the case reminds us once again why the existence of independent investigative journalism and investigative authorities is important and valuable.
According to the investigative article published by the BBC on February 12, 2023, Davit Kezerashvili is linked to the so-called network of call centre financial fraud.
The US ambassador was asked a question about the BBC investigation by Netgazeti. According to Degnan, she is not familiar with the details of the journalistic investigation, but the ambassador noted that the case once again shows the importance of independent investigative journalism and the existence of investigative authorities.
Kelly Degnan: “I haven’t had a chance to hear the full story, read the full story, so I’m not familiar with the details. It sounds like it is an example, another reminder of why it’s valuable to have independent investigative journalism and independent, competent investigative authorities to look into allegations like this and ensure people’s rights are protected.”
According to the BBC, their investigative arm BBC Eye spent more than a year investigating an international investment fraud ring that made more than a billion dollars by defrauding clients around the world. According to the journalistic investigation, there are five people among the directors of the companies related to the fraudulent network “Milton Group”: Davit Todua, Rati Chelidze, Guram Gogeshvili, Joseph Mgeladze and Michael Benimini. After these names were included in the Panama Papers, the journalists traced the network to the “Milton Group”, which is connected to Davit Kezerashvili. According to the BBC, there are no public documents confirming Kezerashvili’s connection with this network, although a search for Kezerashvili’s name in the Panama Papers revealed him as a founder or one of the shareholders of the network’s parent companies. According to the BBC, several employees of companies related to the “Milton Group” say that they had direct contact with Kezerashvili and that he is involved in the activities of the network. According to the journalistic investigation, Kezerashvili owns an office building in Kyiv, where the office of the fraudulent call centre was located, as well as several buildings where the offices of tech companies related to “Milton Group” were located. According to the BBC, Kezerashvili often shared information about fraudulent platforms on his social networks, and several of his companies used the same private e-mail server as the “Milton Group” companies.
Kezerashvili himself denies any connection with fraudulent call centres and intends to use legal leverage to confirm the inaccuracy of the facts presented in the BBC article.
About the Source
The Facebook user “Nikusha Sanidze” shares discrediting posts about the representatives of the opposition and their supporters. It is also worth noting that the user publishes posts supporting “Georgian Dream” founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and “Georgian Dream” chairman Irakli Kobakhidze.
Manipulative information disseminated by the user has been fact-checked by “Myth Detector” in the past as well.
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