On February 19, 2025, Forbes Georgia published an article entitled House of Cards in Georgia: Mamatsashvili’s Estate Expands. In response, Ucha Mamatsashvili’s lawyer, Amiran Giguashvili, sent us a statement addressing the information discussed in the article.
The statement includes the lawyer’s response to the evidence presented in the article:
“Considering the public interest and my client’s high sense of civic responsibility, I feel obligated to make a few clarifications regarding the politically biased article published in the Georgian edition of Forbes on February 19, 2025. It is clear that the journalist is attempting to present absolutely standard legal procedures related to real estate and obtaining construction permits as if they were unique or preferential treatment was given to Ucha Mamatsashvili’s family by the relevant authorities in the administrative process. In light of this, we find it necessary to clarify a few issues raised in the article to the public.
Ucha Mamatsashvili’s brother, Archil Mamatsashvili, has owned two of the ten land plots mentioned in the article in the Bagebi forest area of Tbilisi since the 1990s. These plots have been registered in Archil Mamatsashvili’s name in the public registry since 2008. The purchase of these two plots did indeed occur via auction. One of the plots was located between Archil Mamatsashvili’s two existing plots, and the other was adjacent to them. The journalist highlights the low sale price of the plots and the absence of other participants in the auction, presenting this as some kind of privilege for Archil Mamatsashvili, which is inaccurate. The auction prices were determined based on the specific characteristics of the plots of land. It is important to note that due to the configuration and size of the plots, the municipality itself had imposed a restriction on construction with this configuration. Therefore, aside from Archil Mamatsashvili, who could unite the newly purchased plots with his existing land, it would have been illogical for any other person to buy them and participate in the auction.
It was emphasized that out of the ten land plots mentioned in the article, Archil Mamatsashvili gave four of the plots he owned to his brother free of charge, while Lela Mamatsashvili purchased the remaining six plots from other owners at the respective market prices (the contracts are registered in the public registry and are available to any interested parties).
The journalist describes the standard procedure for changing the intended use of the land plots and their unification in the article. In order for the owner to obtain a construction permit, it was necessary to unify the land plots, and for unification, it was required that all ten plots had the same intended use. Regarding removing the restriction imposed by the municipality, it is natural that these restrictions were lifted since the plots purchased through auction, which were subject to the restriction, were unified with other plots, and the configuration was changed.
Regarding the issue of issuing a construction permit, the permit was granted in full compliance with the law. On the one hand, the journalist mentions the start of the process for establishing the conditions for the land’s construction use in the summer of 2023, and on the other hand, they mention that the permit was issued within two months. To clarify for the public, issuing a construction permit involves two stages. The first stage is the establishment of the conditions for the land’s construction use, and the second stage is the agreement of the project and the issuing of the permit.
In this case, the process of determining the conditions for the land’s construction use began on August 21, 2023, and was submitted to the Tbilisi City Hall Architecture Department. The final agreement on these conditions took place on April 10, 2024. During this process, there were several interim results, and the preparation of the response was delayed. The stage of approving the project and issuing the permit began on April 22, 2024, and there were two interim responses, with the final construction permit being issued on June 17, 2024. In reality, obtaining the construction permit, instead of the two months emphasized by the journalist, took ten months. This information is public and can be accessed by any interested party on the Architecture Department’s website: www.tas.ge.”
We want to respond to the clarification from Ucha Mamatsashvili’s side:
Regarding the low price of the land plots and the lack of participation of other entities in the auction:
According to Ucha Mamatsashvili’s lawyer, one of the two land plots purchased by Archil Mamatsashvili at public auction was located between two plots he already owned, and due to its size and configuration, no other person could have conducted construction on it, which explains why no other parties were interested in participating in the auction. This argument concerning the second land plot is not convincing. The latter was not located between Archil Mamatsashvili’s properties; it was adjacent to another privately owned plot and could also have been combined with that land.
The argument regarding removing the restrictions imposed by the municipality was entirely natural, as the plots purchased at the auction that were subject to the restriction were merged with other plots, and their configuration was changed.
Before Lela Mamatsashvili purchased the land, the former owner had also requested a change in the land’s designation and a merger, which the National Agency of the Public Registry denied. However, the request was granted after Lela Mamatsashvili purchased the plots and subsequently sought to change their designation and merge them. This raises doubts: after Lela Mamatsashvili’s acquisition of the plots, nothing changed except for the owner’s identity. Previously, the National Agency of the Public Registry had refused the change in designation, and it remains unclear why approval was given under the same factual circumstances for the new owner.
The argument regarding the fact that the construction permit process actually took ten months instead of the two months emphasized by the journalist.
The two-month period mentioned in the article refers specifically to the agreement of the construction project and the issuance of the construction permit (not the procedure for determining the land’s construction use, for which Ucha Mamatsashvili’s lawyer mentions a ten-month period). The construction project was first submitted to the Architecture Department on April 22, 2024, and the construction permit was issued on June 17, 2024. The article explicitly highlights the unusually short duration required for the approval of the construction project and issuance of the construction permit. Considering existing practices, the approval of a construction project of such scale and volume requires a detailed review by the municipality’s Architecture Department, and only after this would a construction permit be issued. This process typically requires a much longer period.
In addition to the above, in the statement, Ucha Mamatsashvili’s lawyer writes, “It should also be noted the structure and design of the article, where, in a large frame, the photo of Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili is presented to attract the reader’s attention, along with political pamphlet-style discussions on the so-called influence of Ivanishvili’s family and his relatives, makes it clear that the purpose of this article was not to conduct a so-called journalistic investigation into the land lawfully acquired by Mr. Ucha Mamatsashvili’s family, but rather the journalist […] was guided by the agenda of specific opposition parties.”
Forbes Georgia operates based on the principles of fact-based reporting. The original article was based on data obtained from open sources and included evidence that readers can verify themselves. The accusations that the agenda of specific opposition parties guided the journalist are unfounded and serve to shift the discussion, aiming for speculation rather than substantive reasoning.
In the statement from Ucha Mamatsashvili’s side, it is also mentioned that “the journalist claims they contacted Mr. Ucha Mamatsashvili’s representative during the preparation of the material, but despite our request, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Mr. Shota Dighmelashvili, was unable to provide any information regarding such communication.”
Forbes Georgia‘s editorial team clarifies that in the original version of the article, it was stated that we had reached out to Ucha Mamatsashvili’s representatives for comment. We intended to include Mr. Mamatsashvili’s position in the article, and we had prepared questions for that purpose. However, an internal investigation found that the email was not sent due to an error and never reached the intended recipient. We regret this oversight and acknowledge that all parties should have an opportunity to respond to any allegations made. That is why we have now presented the arguments from Ucha Mamatsashvili’s attorney regarding the issues discussed in the article.
