Former Georgian Defense Minister and founder of the TV company Formula, Davit Kezerashvili, stated that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has won a court case, resulting in the removal of the investigative material prepared about him from all platforms.
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“As a result of the legal dispute I initiated, the BBC has removed all so-called investigative stories, articles, and other materials from its platforms, effectively ending the nearly two-year-long process related to the defamation by the BBC. This outcome confirms that the allegations made were the most serious defamation against me.
All the materials prepared for the court, audited reports, and reports from legal and consulting firms clearly and unequivocally show that the accusation claiming I may have benefited from illegal income is a complete lie. The subsequent campaign launched against me by the Georgian authorities was also designed to mislead the Georgian public and international allies.
The results of other court proceedings held outside Georgia confirm this. All similar campaigns by the Georgian Dream were assessed by the courts as either gross human rights violations (as per the decision of the so-called Strasbourg Court in 2024) or political persecution (according to the decisions of the courts in France and the United Kingdom),” Davit Kezerashvili wrote on Facebook.
Kezerashvili also stated that the BBC has undertaken not to return to “spreading defamatory information” in the future and will reimburse all legal costs related to the lawsuit.
In April 2023, the BBC published a journalistic investigation alleging that the former Georgian Defense Minister was one of the businessmen behind a global fraud network. According to the article, journalists identified companies linked to the Milton Group, which contacted potential victims by phone and offered investment opportunities. The fraud network is said to have robbed ordinary people of more than a billion dollars. The Milton Group was reportedly connected to Kezerashvili, with the article stating that he owned an office building in Kyiv that housed a fraudulent call center. The material is currently unavailable on the BBC website.
