“Mamuka Khazaradze, Badri Japaridze, and their allies wasted the Georgian government’s eight years in connection with the Anaklia project,” said Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

According to the Speaker, the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration ended Mamuka Khazaradze-Badri Japaridze’s 4-year political swindle. Shalva Papuashvili explained that the Anaklia Development Consortium did nothing for four years following signing the investment agreement, and they have wasted another four years since 2020 after initiating a court dispute against the Georgian government.

“This dispute was a burden for the state and the Minister of Justice said today that USD 1.5 billion, which these people demanded was 1/4 of the budget. They pretended they cared about people and came into politics with a similar philosophy.

As for the process, taking into account that they made this business issue a political issue, in fact, the reason for their going into politics but was exposed today and this was the issue which tarnished Georgia’s image abroad,” he said.

Shalva Papuashvili noted that the Lelo party leaders, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, continue to be active in the international arena and are warmly received at various diplomatic meetings. He said the Lelo leaders “recognized as swindles” shake hands with people, listen to their concerns and participate in the discussions confirming that “both business and political interests stood behind all this.”

“For the last four years, they have kept patriotic positions and the patheticness of the Lelo, but their way of speaking, known to everyone, turned out to be a mere four-year political deceit. This ended yesterday with the decision of the International Court of Arbitration based in Paris,” stated Papuashvili.

According to Shalva Papuashvili, the Lelo and its association are just as fabricated as the myth created by Khazaradze over the years about the oppression of the Anaklia Development Consortium by the government.

“Finally, it became clear what was the goal of Khazaradze-Japaridze’s entry into politics, the basis for the creation of the Lelo party and, most recently, the true essence of the union with other small parties and pseudo-politicians from the non-governmental sector.

Obviously, it was to create a political entourage for financial machinations, taking money from the budget and getting even richer at the expense of people,” he said.

The Supervisory Board of the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) released a statement in response to the award on the arbitration case under the Arbitration Rules of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), denying ADC’s claim filed by Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze against the Government of Georgia.