Member Info for Looed

tsbs1 - I have emailed him and asked him the same thing and why he wanted to share with us.

There was some chat about the authenticity of the PDF. I suppose a fake or edited one is possible - whats US$10-20,000 when billions of dollars are at stake.

It reminded me of the lengths people do go to. Years ago I would attend Canton Fair in China on a regular basis (it was at the time the worlds biggest trade fair). I got off the train from HKG and saw this very fancy sign saying "Free VIP travel to Canton Fair for distinguished Foreign Guests!!" or words to that effect. So we all trapse over to the stand and there are drinks and wet towels, registration forms and then a very nice coach that we all board. We get full commentary from the charming hostess, even an attempt at onboard karaoke. Then I start to think this is a funny way to get to the Fair. On and on we go and end up a drab warehouse building and we are all ushered off the bus and taken inside. There must be almost 200 exhibitors with fully established booths and exhibition stands. The whole think was fake and nothing to do with Canton Fair. When we challenged the guy said "No!! Building A!! Now we take you to Building B!!" and we eventually got dropped off at the real Canton Fair AKA Building B - even the fake passes we had been worked at the real one. That took some organising and attention to detail!

Morning StarRage - I should have worded it better. I didn't mean the content of Award is ambiguous. I meant if the outcome is so clear cut (as per the PDF) I don't understand why Zaza goes on TV etc to make the very specific claims he does regarding the results of the Award. I get grandstanding and using any pressure he can in general terms to stake a position, but the repeated denial of the Award in relation to the document we have been discussing is baffling.

I have contacted the person to ask why they posted the document and could they share any more information. Will share any reply.

Sorry - too many generals in that first paragraph!

Having just finished reading everyones take on things re PDF so I went back to read the translation. I know some think its coming down to politics and pressure. I can understand general general comments about GD and unfair treatment. But in the interview he specifically refutes many of the findings others have been sharing from the PDF -

(reporter says) "We know that the agency has announced the termination of the contract with the company "Frontera". What is the status of this issue? How is this issue resolved - has a contract been signed between the company and the state, and how do you see the future? I know that you stay in Georgia and continue to work, but what is the perspective?

The prospect is as follows, e.g. Neither by the decision of the arbitral tribunal nor by the contract, the Oil and Gas Agency and the authorities have any right to terminate the contract unilaterally. To be honest, it is completely incomprehensible what such a public statement of theirs serves when they have neither this right under the contract nor by the decision of the arbitral tribunal. We certainly continue to work. It is incomprehensible to us that even if they are going to expropriate us or are going not to let us go to our institions by force, we will not be able to tell you about it until today. I think it would be very foolish behavior to hurt the image of the country in the future, so I hope they don't do that, but I want to emphasize once again that neither they have the legal nor the contractual right to terminate the agreement unilaterally."

And

(also Zaza) "But in essence, what is in this conclusion is that the government demanded that the company, as if we had violated the terms of the contract, must pay more than 320 million in fines, and this, of course, was unfounded and the arbitral tribunal did not grant this request. The government also demanded that we cancel the contract because it was as if we were violating the terms of the contract. This was also not upheld by the arbitral tribunal."

Even the Award doesn't help to clear things up.

Tenners - yesterday I was looking through some other awards to see what they contained, formatting etc. Some have annexes and some don't. In all the ones I saw that had additional papers it was always detailed in the main table of contents using roman numerals and how may pages etc. So as ODR says, if this is the Award then its unlikely there are additional pages to be revealed.

You mentioned that you might be able to arrange some translations, or help check for duplications should we get snowed under with articles etc. Many thanks for the generous offer.

Can I ask do you read the board on a daily / regular basis? Just want to know in case we might need your help.

Thanks again.

I am posting this in case there is a surge in interviews should the leaking of the Award become more public, or Zaza pops up soon regardless of the PDF.

The Fund now stands at GBP2,382.00 with 130 contributions.

I am not sure what timelines people have, but I hoped we would have a process set up by now. We should have some group-approved decisions on what we do or don't do so we can start projects without delay. (some might be OK to translate everything we find, some might want to only focus on spoken interviews, do we set aside money for other types of documentation or some other contingency - I think we can quickly figure this out)

I had some off-board communication with FSHG to verify that I match an email address in their database (now done). A couple of names had been suggested to act as fund-holders and oversee communications to ensure transparency, but there's been no contact so far.

If we need to arrange more translations then I will need to commit more funds upfront before any work can be done. I am OK to do that, I just need to know we have transparency for the group and a way to deal with payments.

I know people have been pre-occupied with the PDF the past couple of days, but we still need a plan for the Fund.

If the Fund-holders prefer to manage things more directly I can share the contact info for the translator as you might have a more efficient way of running these projects.

Just a reminder of pricing - we now have 2 quotes for the last Zaza interview (upwork provided the translation)

upwork.com US$110.00
translateservice.ge US$456.00

No quotes yet for print translations.

I think LordLash asked a similar question earlier and Each time I think of it it takes down Conspiracy Lane. This BB is likely one of the few places where FRR-related info is routinely shared and compared, and we are able to reach into the collective memory to recall all manner of detail. We cut & paste everything.

At first I thought this release (assuming its legit) wasn't actually meant for us, its an invisible way to share a very valuable / damaging document where the sharing of which can be hidden by the mass posting and reposting of information. Why should GD etc do it when we will do the job for them for free.

We have already had (in recent past) posters tweeting Ted Cruz, talking about SH court action and lots of ideas on how we promote our case - so its possible we might tweet anyone who will listen, we might contact the press here, USA, or Georgia who can report that UK shareholders have revealed etc etc etc. Desperate SH might take more and more desperate actions.

I still haven't read it as out most of the day and late night here now. I wonder if the release to us, and the expectation that we would be cutting and pasting all day and night to anyone and everyone is to try and expose Zaza and corner him with the actual findings vs his take on things. Its not the press etc who expose him - its the SH who have exposed his "lies and corruption". If the press cant report directly on the Award due to confidentiality clauses they can certainly report on that side of it.

Its sounds crazy but really, outside of the press, who else but us talks and shares so much about this stuff (I am assuming this is the busiest FRR BB)

Welloiled - much appreciated and of course shout out anytime if you need some help.

Zib - in reply to a comment you made (when replying to Welloiled) regarding FRUS - it was part of the Arbitration (but not the termination)

"On April 17, 2020 the International Arbitration Tribunal rendered its final award as to the matters in dispute between JSC Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and LEPL State Agency of Oil and Gas of Georgia, on the one part, and Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation and Frontera Resources US LLC, on the other part,"

https://www.gogc.ge/en/article/frontera-gogc-the-international-arbitration-tribunal-rendered-its-final-award-/479

I haven't opened the file yet but having read all the posts and a bit of digging - in short -

A. UNCITRAL model law and rules
The UNCITRAL Model Law does not say anything about confidentiality. Likewise, the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules do not provide for confidentiality, APART FROM THE AWARD which may be made public only with the consent of both parties. UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, art. 32(5). (above CAPS are mine)
https://www.arbitration-icca.org/media/4/47002284538882/media012641379548970defining.pdf (p 628)

I think there is an LSE rule that you need to be a member for more than 24 hours in order to post a link. The first two messages had no content other than the redacted link. By the 3rd post we get an "interesting" and by the 6th message we get "....you will see the whole truth about Zaza, that he is a deceiver and a swindler". He spends over an hour trying to post the info for the link.

Has anyone seen this document shared on other BB's such as ii ? (outside of reposts from here)

I can't find anything via the usual internet searches etc.

Welloiled - many thanks for that - I can imagine to took quite a while to sort all that out.

If there are more original documents that you think could be of interest let us know - we can put it to the group if we should use some of the fund for this type of translation (as the fund is set up for media translations)

Post-pandemic Georgia: stepping out of a political crisis?
Despite highlighting its success in dealing with the pandemic, the Georgian Dream government has recognised the possibility of losing public and external support ahead of the parliamentary elections.
https://neweasterneurope.eu/2020/06/09/post-pandemic-georgia-stepping-out-of-political-crisis/

In Defence of Georgia: Why Being Neutral Is Not an Option - Georgia’s Western Trajectory https://theglobepost.com/2020/06/09/georgia-covid-19/

Stockholm Arbitration assigns a 'T' to cases ie T-468-18 (assume 18 is the year) and looks like this
JUDGEMENT of the
SWEDISH SUPREME COURT
given in Stockholm on 30 April 2019
PARTIES
Appellant
NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB, 556595-6538 Medicon Village
223 81 Lund
Counsel: Attorneys SD, AP and SW
Counterparty
CicloMulsion AG Karl-Seckinger-Str. 25 D-76229 Karlsruhe Germany
Counsel: Attorney BG
MATTER
Challenge of arbitral award
APPEALED JUDGMENT
Page 1 (9)
Case No. T 796-18
https://www.arbitration.sccinstitute.com/views/pages/getfile.ashx?portalId=89&docId=3784013&propId=1578

Hague Arbitration assigns a Date+number ie 2019-18 and looks like this -
NAME(S) OF CLAIMANT(S) Olympic Entertainment Group AS (Estonia) (Private entity )
NAME(S) OF RESPONDENT(S) Ukraine (State)
NAMES OF PARTIES -
CASE NUMBER 2019-18
ADMINISTERING INSTITUTION Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)
- https://pca-cpa.org/en/cases/207/

If you search The Hague site using the case number the new poster provided it says "no records found". The Hague only posts results if all parties agree to the findings being made public.

In the transcript of the interview Zaza says the arbitration is in Stockholm (p9)

In the Hogan Lovells statement 18h may on the GOGC website it states "He also emphasized that the dispute was discussed at the International Arbitration Tribunal by three high-ranking international arbitrators. Stockholm was designated as the venue for the process."

But in the GOGC statement 28th May it says "On January 15, 2018 GOGC and SAOG commenced arbitration proceedings against FRGC by filing a request for arbitration with the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration with respect to a dispute arising out of breach by FRGC of its obligations under the PSC." In fact The Hague is mentioned twice in this statement.

Its a head scratcher why both places are referenced as the place of Arbitration.

ZyDer - I think the lack of public dissection is down to the clarity of his comments. It removed a lot of the ambiguity from previous articles which have relied on Google Translate and often left much open to interpretation. I think this was an easy to digest read that whilst lacking in some of the details we still crave, at least filled in a lot of blanks or assumptions we have been making. A lot of the article was stuff we already know, but there was some new info that's been discussed here such as the potential deal with the two American companies, some talk about production numbers.

This was possibly the first time we have heard Zaza clearly articulate his thoughts unedited for almost an hour while being challenged by a reporter and the public. So the result has been less need to parse every word looking for context as far as this transcript goes.

This is the reply from www.translateservice.com -

Hello,
Thank you very much for your request!
We are pleased to submit the following quotation:
Translation price from Georgian to English – 8 USD/per minute.
Deadline: 3 working days.
Payment: 456USD
In advance 50% via PayPal or Bank Transfer upon invoice.
Look forward to hearing from you soon!
Thank You!

TOT previously used the service for text translation only. We can try to get a quote from them next time we have an article to translate as that might be more competitive.

We are currently using upwork.com and I have just emailed www.translateservice.ge (as suggested by TOT) for a quote. This is the message I sent to them -

"Hello,

I would like to get a quotation and a timeline for the following project:-

Translation from Georgian to English of a radio program between a journalist, interviewee and a couple of phone-in callers. The format is mp4 (visual and audio) or mp3 (audio only). The program runs for approx 57 minutes. The conversation is related to the Oil & Gas industry in Georgia but does not require any technical or specialist knowledge."

If any poster has a connection with other translation services perhaps you can send this same message to them and get a quote. This might help us to build a database of available services and a benchmark on pricing for this type of media translation.

If you do contact a service can you also post the name of the company you have just contacted in this thread to avoid others contacting the same firm. Thanks.

"Former Georgian Dream MPs Set up New Party" - will not align with GD or Opposition
https://civil.ge/archives/355209

"The oppositional parties call for the Georgian Dream to fully fulfill the 8th March agreement. The opposition also states that the judicial system is being politicized once again."
https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/107814-opposition-calls-for-georgian-dream-to-fully-fulfill-the-8th-march-agreement

Transparency International - Georgia’s Public Opinion Survey on Corruption in Georgia - the % who believe in systemic corruption is high.
https://civil.ge/archives/355119