31 Facts About Badri Patarkatsishvili

Arkady Shalvovich "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a Georgian businessman who became extensively involved in politics.

Badri Patarkatsishvili eventually became Komsomol leader at Maudi, a large textile operation.

In 1984, Badri Patarkatsishvili became Deputy Director General of Gruzavtovazprom, a company that purchased and delivered cars and spare parts from AvtoVAZ, which was at the time, the largest car manufacturer in the Soviet Union.

LogoVaz established an office in Georgia and Badri Patarkatsishvili became Deputy Director General of the company.

From 1994 until mid-2000, Badri Patarkatsishvili was a key figure at ORT.

Badri Patarkatsishvili emerged as the key intermediary, passing messages between Abramovich and Berezovsky.

Badri Patarkatsishvili was offered $500 million by Roman Abramovich, the defence papers that were submitted admit, for protecting Roman in Russia's aluminium wars.

Badri Patarkatsishvili then organised the sale of Kommersant in August 2006 to senior Gazprom executive Alisher Usmanov.

Badri Patarkatsishvili did this in order to counter the political aspirations of the Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was seen as more of a statist.

When Vladimir Putin was elected in March 2000, Badri Patarkatsishvili hoped that the situation for Berezovsky and himself in Russia would improve.

Badri Patarkatsishvili later claimed that he had recommended Putin to Pavel Borodin, then a senior member of President Boris Yeltsin's Kremlin administration.

However, in June 2001, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office charged Badri Patarkatsishvili with organizing an attempted escape from prison of Glushkov and issued an arrest warrant for him through Interpol.

Badri Patarkatsishvili had become personally wealthier than the entire state budget and so was able to invest in business ventures and charitable projects in a scale that had been previously unimaginable to the impoverished country.

Badri Patarkatsishvili bought the Tbilisi city football team, Dinamo Tbilisi, the Kulevi oil terminal and financed a new shopping centre in the capital and a holiday resort on the Black Sea.

Badri Patarkatsishvili became the head of the federation of Georgian businessmen and head of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, subsidized social programs and cultural activities, and on two occasions paid debts for the gas and electricity consumed by Tbilisi residents.

Badri Patarkatsishvili claimed that this was due to the coverage given by Imedi to opposition parties; Saakashvili claimed that Badri Patarkatsishvili was attempting to use his wealth to gain control of business life in Georgia.

Badri Patarkatsishvili began financing opposition parties in late 2006 and early 2007 and a pro-Badri Patarkatsishvili group in parliament soon emerged that developed into the Our Georgia party.

Badri Patarkatsishvili said that his earlier accusations levelled against Saakashvili were not true and were aimed at gaining political dividends for himself and Patarkatsishvili and at discrediting the President of Georgia.

Badri Patarkatsishvili was impeached as president of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, and quit as a president of the Georgian Business Federation.

On October 29,2007, Badri Patarkatsishvili publicly announced his plans to finance ten opposition parties' campaign aimed at holding early parliamentary elections in April 2008.

Later independent journalist Vakhtang Komakidze produced what he said was the full transcript of the recorded conversation which showed that Badri Patarkatsishvili was advising against violence and the extracts released had been doctored The accusations forced Badri Patarkatsishvili onto the defensive.

Badri Patarkatsishvili confirmed that he met with Kodua in London, but denied that the bribe was in connection to an alleged coup plot and claimed instead that his intention was to uncover what he said were official plans to rig the election.

On December 28,2007, Badri Patarkatsishvili announced that he would withdraw his bid for presidency, but would nominally remain a candidate until January 4,2008.

Badri Patarkatsishvili was president of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, until being impeached in October 2007, after falling out with the government.

In September 2006, Badri Patarkatsishvili announced that he was considering a bid for the London football club West Ham.

Shortly after dining, Badri Patarkatsishvili told his family he felt unwell and went upstairs to his bedroom where he was found unconscious after a heart attack.

Badri Patarkatsishvili is buried in the courtyard of his residence Arkadia in Tbilisi, which is located in the former Wedding Palace.

Badri Patarkatsishvili said the tape had been given to police.

Badri Patarkatsishvili, living in London, was approached by members of the Saakashvili government demanding that he sell his controlling share in the dissident Imedi TV network.

Berezovsky claimed that half of Badri Patarkatsishvili's assets belong to him under a handshake agreement that the two men made in 1995 to split all their commercial interests equally.

Badri Patarkatsishvili's wife was Inna Vasilievna Gudavadze and they had two daughters Liana and Inna.