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Posted by DomFok on the 28th June :-

Formula news ( Interesting video - Zaza and another American CEO )
https://formulanews.ge/News/32135

The American energy company " Frontera " will voice the accusations against the government once again at a special briefing. Frontera accuses the Georgian government of deliberately harassing American businesses in Georgia.

Expert Nodar Kharshiladze says relations with the United States are at their lowest level in 30 years. According to him, this fact will have a negative impact on the development of the country.

"Our purpose today is to start a new campaign, which refers to US-Russian relations. establishment of diplomatic relations until now there has never been such a low point, when practically every week our government sakritiko Letters from America, which is shameful for the country. There are many political reasons, but one of the main reasons is It is very unfortunate that the American business is oppressed in Georgia. It causes two problems - one is the political dimension, and our image is damaged, the other is the economic damage, "Kharshiladze said.

According to Zaza Mamulaishvili , President of Frontera , American companies face strong opposition from the Georgian government.

"Our company has been operating in Georgia for 23 years. We are the largest American investor in the country. We face incredible resistance from the Georgian government due to discriminatory treatment of us and American business in general. To be created, especially in the face of such a ruined economy, "he said.

Posted by keysersoze on the 28th June :-

Georgian Opposition Politician Accuses Officials Of Pressuring Judge

June 24, 2020 15:35 GMT

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service

Giorgi Rurua (center) pictured in a Tbilisi courtroom.

Share1

TBILISI -- Georgian opposition figure Giorgi Rurua has accused officials of pressuring the judge in a case over an illegal weapon possession charge that threatens to disrupt a foreign-brokered deal with the ruling party on electoral reforms.

Rurua told the court on June 24 as his trial resumed in Tbilisi that the pistol in the case had been planted in his vehicle. The case has been met with harsh criticism by opposition politicians, who along with Rurua have called the charge fake and believe it is politically motivated.

Rurua, the founder and a shareholder of the opposition-aligned Mtavari Arkhi TV, was arrested on November 18, 2019, and charged with the illegal purchase, possession, and carrying of a firearm.

In mid-May, after President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned two opposition politicians -- Gigi Ugulava, the leader of the European Georgia-Movement for Freedom and a former mayor of Tbilisi; and former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who leads the opposition Victorious Georgia party -- many thought that Rurua also would be released.

Such a move would have met the demands by the opposition, who had threatened to abandon the foreign-brokered deal between the opposition and the ruling party on election reforms if "political prisoners" were not freed.

The sides have failed to move forward since the deal on electoral reforms was inked on March 8, triggering what Zurabishvili called a “political crisis” that has threatened the “democratic and European future” of the South Caucasus nation.

Georgia’s opposition parties claim the release was a condition of the deal, which the governing Georgian Dream party denies.

Opposition parties insisted that Georgia's electoral system unfairly favored Georgian Dream, and demanded it be changed to a proportional system ahead of parliamentary elections set for October this year.

Under the March 8 memorandum of understanding facilitated by U.S. and European Union officials, parliament should consist of 120 members elected through a proportional voting system, while 30 members would be elected through a majority system.

The electoral threshold for proportional elections will be set at 1 percent and a capping mechanism will mean that no single party receiving less than 40 percent of the votes cast will be allowed to hold a majority of seats in parliament.

Under the current electoral system, 73 of 150 parliamentary seats are claimed by candidates who finish first in district races. The remaining seats are distributed proportionally to the national share of the vote that a party wins.

This led to Georgian Dream, led by billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, winning 76 percent of the legislature's seats even though it won just less than half o

Posted by DomFok on the 27th June :-

Info news article- Warning from Washington
The latest warning and unprecedented move from Washington - this is how analysts evaluate new messages from the US

https://infonews.ge/%E1%83%91%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9A%E1%83%9D-%E1%83%92%E1%83%90%E1%83%A4%E1%83%A0%E1%83%97%E1%83%AE%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%94%E1%83%91%E1%83%90-%E1%83%93%E1%83%90-%E1%83%A3%E1%83%9E%E1%83%A0%E1%83%94/

"Georgia-US relations have not been at such a low level yet, thanks to Mr. Bidzina" - experts at the initiative of Senator Rish

The latest warning and unprecedented move from Washington - this is how analysts assess new messages from the United States.

At the initiative of the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, an amendment to the United States National Defense Document is planned, which, in the event of a delay in the democratic process in Georgia, would mean the cessation of US defense assistance. The head of the Senate's leading committee is telling the Georgian Dream directly that he must give up the temptation to seize power.

According to political experts, if the government fails to pass the test of democracy in the 2020 elections, the issue of imposing sanctions on Ivanishvili in Washington will be on the agenda:

Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream will either hold democratic elections and avoid shaking hands and violence in the elections and will also release political prisoner Giorgi Rurua. If these conditions are not met, sanctions against Ivanishvili and his entourage will be guaranteed - says Batu Kutelia

Georgian experts say relations between Georgia and the United States have never been so low. According to them, Georgia no longer trusts its strategic partner, which is the responsibility of the Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili.

These changes mean that the United States no longer trusts the Georgian government and imposes conditions - Washington will help Tbilisi if the government fulfills the March 8 agreement, OSCE recommendations, will allow the government to enjoy it - says Giorgi Rukhadze

From the day of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, Georgia has never had such a low-level relationship with the United States. It is a great merit of the Georgian Dream that it has brought Georgia-America relations so far.

Amendments to the Defense Authorization Act must be supported by the Senate.

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

Pt.6 (and final part)

J2 - Georgia is not the only case. Frontera's reputation has been damaged in other countries as well. Foreign media are looking for information about it. For example, it turns out that the company in Moldova claimed that the country would become an exporter of electricity in the region. Authorities have announced a tender, which was won by a subsidiary of “Frontera” in questionable circumstances. "Frontera Resource International" appeared on the Ukrainian market a few years ago. The company should have signed strategic agreements on the transportation and processing of oil and gas. However, as the journalists of the Ukrainian portal "No to Corruption" found out, despite the noisy statements, the leadership of "Frontera" did not actually sign any contract. As an investor in Azerbaijan, “Frontera Resources” first appeared in 1998. The company has taken an obligation to commercially exploiting oil from several fields. According to the contract, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan had to sell the full volume of extracted oil. Four years later, “Frontera” withdrew from the deal and gave its place to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with which it had a loan of $ 60 million. According to our information, the parent company of "Frontera Resources Georgia" owes 230 million, which should be repaid in August. The agreement signed with the Georgian side is indicated for security. If the Oil and Gas Corporation and the agency terminate the contract, then Zaza Mamulaishvili and Steve Nicandros' property should be used to secure the debt. Presumably, this may be due to the recent political moves made by Frontera. One important detail - we contacted Mr. Zaza Mamulaishvili, who is the director of Frontera Resources Georgia. For him, this format turned out to be unacceptable. It was only on airtime where he agreed to answer our questions. And, as I told you, he refused this format.

J1 - Tamar, thank you very much. I was really surprised by so many documents that you had to translate and then process, how did you manage to get so much information before 9 o'clock? This is a topic we will discuss in the future. Tamar Gogesashvili spoke about the "Frontera" scandal live.

J2 - Thank you.

https://www.imedi.ge/ge/video/54942/saertashoriso-skandalshi-gakhveuli-da-skhvadaskhva-qvekanashi-taglitobashi-mkhilebuli-prontera

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

Pt.5

Giorgi Tatishvili (Director of Oil and Gas Agency of Georgia - As for the resources that Frontera appeals to, and among them uses the opinion of an independent expert, an expert company, yes, such a conclusion really exists. It is available, but it is clearly stated in this conclusion that the numbers that "Frontera" names and the resources that it says, these are undiscovered resources and are only hypothetical. It is also very important that the International Arbitration has shared our position on this in detail. In fact, these are numbers that are not based on discovery, and in order to transfer them, so to speak, in the inventory category, a lot of important work had to be done, which "Frontera" has never done.

J1 - Tamar, some senators or congressmen are lobbyists for the “Frontera” and accuse the Georgian government of putting pressure on them. To make it clearer to the viewer, does Frontera use lobbyists in the United States and pay money to lobbyists?

J2 - Irakli, public information is that "Frontera" paid lobbying companies, which are the leaders in the rating, for example, in 2017 they were paid 60 000 US Dollars. In 2018, the number and amount of lobbyists increased and amount payable increased to 230,000 US Dollars. And, so far this year, they have paid up to $ 80,000 in lobbying. At the same time, "Frontera Resources Georgia" fired employees at the end of 2019, for whom it has 11 months' salary debts. 84 citizens are still trying in vain to force the company to pay for their work. They also appealed to the court, held rallies, but no one from the company spoke to them.
Khatuna Ozashvili (worker) - We have 11 months` salary to take. After 11 months, they fired us without any reason. After that, for already 6 months now, we have been hanging in the air.

Valida Lolashvili (Worker) - We have not achieved our goal. He doesn't pay us a salary and doesn't tell us anything about it. We are affected. We have a lot of debt. We are in a difficult situation. Our mine is currently closed. The oil is exploding, polluting the area, and it probably needs to be taken care of in order to recover quickly.

Beso Janiashvili (Worker) - We have children. Salaries should be given to us. Why are they delaying? They took all this oil, sold it and put that money in his pocket and fed the congressmen and then went into business. He wants to enter alcohol business needs to do. They should take the money from them, take away that business and give us a salary.

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

Pt.4

J2 - In addition to the international image, we can discuss specifically how this case was be handled by them. Our viewers learned a lot about the honesty of the “Frontera” from this interview. However, there are a few issues that further illustrate the look of this company. For example, the company's representation was not present at all in the international arbitration when the cross-examination was to take place. The company did not pay for the arbitration proceedings. Apparently, they wanted to slow down with this, after which the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation paid this amount so that the process would not be stopped. However, the arbitral tribunal eventually ordered him to pay these costs. "Frontera Resources Georgia" appeals that the state is obstructing it, but when it encountered problems with the permission of the private owner to carry the pipeline, the state entered the court on behalf of "Frontera" and the dispute was resolved in favor of "Frontera". As for the ecological situation, after the "Frontera" left the area, there are mines that pollute and damage the environment. The company was fined by the State Oil and Gas Agency. They said they would solve the problem, but did nothing about it. After the arbitral decision became the subject of speculation, the Georgian side formally addressed “Frontera” and asked for permission to disclose the document, although it refused to do so due to commercial interests. Then, the Oil and Gas Corporation sent another letter and only asked to disclose only resolution part, although no response has been received yet.

Giorgi Bakhtadze (General Director of Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia) - The International Arbitration Tribunal has imposed “Frontera” to return the territories, reimburse the court costs incurred by the Georgian side, and acknowledge the significant breach of the agreement. This means that the Georgian side, and in particular the State Agency, has the right to terminate the contract with “Frontera”. I would like to state with full responsibility that the money spent during the arbitration process was not paid from the budget. The whole process was funded by the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation, and this is absolutely open information, which is reflected in our financial statements, and of course, these reports are on our corporate website.

Vazha Khidasheli (Adviser of Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia - We suggest that “Frontera” provided incorrect information, misleading members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, which led to these statements. It would be good if “Frontera” would provide the text of the decision to these senators and congressmen. If they had read and seen the facts reflected in the decision, the arbitral tribunal, the evidence presented by the parties, they would not have made such statements and would not have been able to do so.

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

Pt.3

KP (Contd) -Throughout the arbitration dispute, "Frontera" denied its obligations to concede the territories. Now that the tribunal has determined that they are obliged to concede the areas that they were supposed to concede in 2017, it has been presented as if it intends to do so. First of all, our dispute is of a purely commercial nature, relating to a commercial contract. It was reviewed by the International Arbitration Tribunal, which consisted of three very high-ranking international arbitrators. Stockholm was designated as the venue for the process. No arbitrator or judge was Georgian. One of them was Swiss, the second was a German living in London, and the third was a citizen of the United States. All three of them made decisions on this commercial dispute. The Georgian side now wants to enforce this decision. From the very beginning, “Frontera” tried to politicize this case, but it is not a political issue and a dispute. This is a commercial dispute and it was based on the principle of legality. From the very beginning, the Georgian side expressed its readiness to agree to the decision of the arbitral tribunal. Now the decision has been made and we hope that “Frontera” will implement this decision. The contractor, which is a party to the agreement, is “Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation”, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, but operates in Texas. Formally, it is an offshore company, but as far as I know, Frontera operates several companies, some of which are offshore and some of which operate in Texas.

J1 - Tamar, this was a very interesting exclusive interview, but our viewers will probably be interested and, naturally, are interested in the international image of "Frontera". Many articles in different countries are written in a very negative context regarding this company, and many of them refer to the representatives of this company as fraudsters. Once again, these are not our words. This is often heard in various assessments. What is their international image? What information do you have?

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

Pt.2

J2 (contd) - One of the most important things we've learned from him is that Frontera's statements that the international tribunal has denied the corporation's and the agency's request to terminate the contract are incorrect, because such a request has not been made and cannot be made. When the International Tribunal granted the relevant request of the Corporation and the Agency, and after establishing a substantial breach of contract with “Frontera”, the Georgian side had the full right to terminate the contract with “Frontera” and send a proper message to the company even if the company returned the territories. According to the lawyer, this is confirmed by the motivational part of the arbitral tribunal's decision.

Karl Pörnbacher, Hogan Lovells - I am surprised by this discussion. I have never seen anything like it in my 20 years of practice. The decision of the arbitral tribunal shall be clear and unambiguous. The Georgian side has made a proposal to make the decision public, so that it can be made available to the public and put an end to these discussions. However, Frontera declined to comment on the allegations. Discussion about who is the winner is irrelevant. The demands of the Georgian side provided for 3 or more 4 main issues. The first concerned the issuance of a decree on the concession of almost 99% of the territories, which "Frontera" had to do in November 2017, and since then has refused to do so. The second was to confirm that “Frontera” had substantially breached the contract. Third - imposition of legal costs related to the process for "Frontera". In addition, “Frontera” has filed a $ 3.5 billion lawsuit against Georgia, and our fourth task was to protect Georgia from this lawsuit. All four items were satisfied. "Frontera" is obliged to cede territories. Second, the tribunal found that “Frontera” had substantially violated the contract. Third, the company must reimburse most of the legal costs involved in the arbitration process, and fourth, the arbitral tribunal has stopped considering a $ 3.5 billion lawsuit in response to „Frontera“, after the „Frontera“ withdrew the issue of his claim. Unfortunately, „Frontera“ never intended to fulfill the contract during the period when I started working on this case, nor before. The Georgian side has been negotiating for an extension of the contract since 2015-2016, in connection with the extension of the contract in the post-2017 period. However, Frontera has never had the opportunity to take obligations to invest in these areas. In 2017, the parties resumed negotiations. The Georgian side offered to resolve the dispute through negotiations and even mediation. However, "Frontera" refused to do so.

Posted by Looed on the 27th June :-

A bit of an advance warning - as you read please bear in mind that this is a very pro-Govt channel....as will become very obvious!

Translation #7,News segment with GOGC etc, 17/6, US$55.00
Pt.1

J1 - Wrapped in a number of international scandals and exposed in fraud in various countries, „Frontera“ is still trying to blackmail the Georgian state by ruining relations with the United States. The company also uses lobbyists, including American congressmen, who are paid tens of thousands of dollars a year by „Frontera“ for lobbying. Despite the loss of the dispute with the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation in the international arbitration, the company's representatives are trying to convince the public that they have won the dispute. The decision to disclose the arbitral decision has been rejected so far. What is written in the decision? In fact, in "Imedis Kvira" you will hear exclusively and for the first time the comment of a lawyer who defended the positions of the Georgian side in the international arbitration. Tamar Gogesashvili read almost all the documents and also met the person who knows much more about this dispute and can say much more about the international image of "Frontera". Tamar, you are live and, finally, tell us who is and what "Frontera" wants in Georgia?

J2 - Irakli, I welcome our audience. The International Arbitration Tribunal has fully complied with the claim of the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and the Oil and Gas Agency exactly 1 month ago. With that, the 27-month dispute should have ended, but the dispute between the two commercial entities has now shifted to the political arena, and if we look at the activities, it is really the merit of the “Frontera”. This is not surprising, as “Frontera” tried to politicize the issue when the Georgian side launched an arbitration dispute. This issue became especially active when, a few days ago, four US congressmen addressed the Secretary of State and the Minister of Finance, accusing the Georgian government of harassing American businesses, such as the “Frontera” case. In order to explain the processes to the audience and to understand them, let us start with the legal part. Karl Pörnbacher, a lawyer and partner of the international law firm Hogan Lovells, defended the interests of the Oil and Gas Corporation during the international arbitration dispute against “Frontera”. We managed to record it exclusively and asked a few questions, including what Frontera claims to have won in the international arbitration dispute, as well as the letters and accusations made by some senators and businessmen about the harassment of American businesses in Georgia. Now we can hear his answer, which is very interesting.

Posted by Mills240 on the 26th June :-

Giorgi Gakharia
Giorgi Gakharia - One of the founders of "Frontera" was "distracted" by one of the political forces, now they will broadcast it on TV and talk nonsense
18:31, 26.06.2020

One of the founders of "Frontera" was "distracted" by one of the political forces, now they will broadcast it on TV and talk about some nonsense, - the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia stated during the presentation of the annual report to the Parliament.

He mentioned this while talking about fake news.

"When, for example, one of the founding members of the Frontera is one of the political forces, to put it in slang, and now they are on TV, they are talking nonsense, while the official, the Ministry of Economy, tells us to sit down and talk, of course. This is a problem, ”said Giorgi Gakharia.

US-based energy company Frontera responds to the statement made by Davit Tvalabeishvili, deputy minister of Economy. The company declares that Ministry of Economy must suspend ignoring the decision of the International Court of Arbitration.

"In light of misleading public statements made by the Deputy Minister of Economy on June 22, 2020, Frontera wishes to highlight that, considering the Government of Georgia’s failure to achieve cancellation of our contract in its recent international arbitration action against our company, the Government must now stop its blatant disregard of the ruling. It must now stop continued threats to arbitrarily cancel our contract on July 27th.

The Minister of Economy has this week released misleading information related to foreign directinvestment from the United States, stating that “in the first quarter of 2020, US investment increased by 34% and ranked second among the largest investor countries with 17%”. This is a disingenuous effort tomask the significant challenges associated with U.S. private-sector investment in Georgia. We call upon the Minister to be publicly transparent and share the basis for this information in order to demonstrate those U.S. private-sector investors that are the basis for this substantial increase in foreign direct investment, while Georgia’s overall foreign direct investment has plummeted by more than 50%”, the statement reads.

Posted by DomFok on the 26th June :-

New Frontera statement today ?
FRONTER VS ?????????? - ????????? ????????? ????????? ????????? ?????????

https://business-partner.ge/biznesi/frontera-vs-sakartvelo-kompania-kidev-ert-gantskhadebas-avrtselebs

There is nothing to negotiate here, the Ministry wants to impose new "conditions" on us, - "Frontera" accuses the Ministry of Economy of public disinformation campaign.

The company has issued a new statement saying that despite repeated refusals to meet, it is now calling for a "negotiating table" to agree on the "conditions under which it will be possible for their business to stay in Georgia."

"There is nothing to negotiate here. We have been proud to be Georgian corporate citizens of the United States for more than twenty years. During this period, we have implemented 500 million USD in oil and gas works in Kakheti. We have invested more in dollars, used advanced American technologies, employed hundreds of Georgian and American employees, and laid the foundation for Georgia's energy independence. Now, with the complete disregard of our contract with the Georgian government, the Ministry wants to impose new "conditions" on us in order to stay in Georgia. In addition to insulting the damage, they chose to do so in public, instead of the usual business communication. After two decades of our stay in Georgia and the end of the two-year legal dispute aimed at terminating our contract, doing business in such a way is dishonest. While the management of our company in Houston, Texas, etc. It is well known to the Ministry and it is very easy to send them such an important message from the press that we know the goals of the Ministry and that is when they use direct communication only to refuse meetings. We once again call on the Georgian authorities to abide by the decision of the Arbitration Tribunal, to respect the terms of our contract and to give us the opportunity to work without constant threats, intimidation and new conditions. There is no legal basis for terminating our contract. The opposite insinuations of the Ministry are wrong. We once again call on the Georgian authorities to stop and refrain from threatening, harassing and intimidating our businesses and employees. Any attempt to terminate or cancel the contract arbitrarily, or otherwise use our company's oil and gas operations to seize and seize it, will be an illegal, criminal act of expropriation and will have an appropriate response, "the statement said.

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