Kakhi Kaladze

Georgia’s ruling party achieves 47% in local elections, higher than EU mediated agreement’s trigger level for snap poll

By | October 3rd, 2021|Categories: Elections|Tags: , , |

Georgians went to the polls Saturday to elect municipal councils and mayors. TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's local elections have so far earned mixed results, with both the ruling party and the opposition celebrating victory and highlighting their own success. Although the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) won a landslide victory in the proportional list and received 47% of the [...]

A PM who recently resigned is Georgia’s most popular politician

By | April 5th, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has 65% approval rating among Georgians. TBILISI, DFWatch--A recently retired prime minister is one of Georgia's most popular politicians, according to a new survey published by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on Monday. Giorgi Gakharia, who resigned in February citing disagreement with his party colleagues over the detention of UNM leader [...]

Former AC Milan player elected Tbilisi mayor

By | October 22nd, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: |

Former professional football player Kakha Kaladze has been elected mayor of Tbilisi, representing the ruling party Georgian Dream. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Former AC Milan football player and Georgia’s current vice Prime Minister Kakha Kaladze has won a decisive victory in the election for Tbilisi mayor with 54 percent of the votes, according to an exit poll at 6pm. The exit polls was carried out by Edison Media Research. […]

Georgia’s ruling party to tap energy minister as new Tbilisi mayor

By | June 6th, 2017|Categories: Politics|Tags: |

Kakhi Kaladze. (Ministry of Energy.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The ruling party in Georgia is expected to name Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze as its candidate for new Tbilisi mayor, to replace the incumbent Davit Narmania. Georgian Dream MPs and members of government met on Sunday behind closed […]

Government reshuffle to boost GD’s election campaign

By | September 10th, 2016|Categories: Elections|Tags: |

Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Friday announced a cabinet reshuffle which lets two GD politicians dedicate their time to campaigning as less than a month remains before a parliamentary election where no party or bloc […]

Kaladze apologises for a sexist remark

By | July 28th, 2016|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , |

Tbilisi, DFWatch – Deputy prime minister and minister of energy Kakha Kaladze apologised for sexist remarks he made while commenting on President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s statement about ‘undue connections between political groups and law enforcement’ in the context of the dispute over the Constitutional Court. […]

Kaladze: ‘National Bank could have monitored large bank transactions’

By | May 15th, 2015|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s vice prime minister claims the National Bank could have helped stabilize the lari by monitoring large bank transactions in and out of the country. Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze said this during an appearance on the talk show 2030 […]

New ministers confirmed by lighthearted Georgian parliament

By | July 27th, 2014|Categories: News, Politics|Tags: , , |

Giorgi Khachidze (left) posing for a selfie with Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze. (Photo published by Khachidze.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Though officially on summer break, the parliament in Georgia convened on Saturday to declare trust in the government after seven of the ministers were replaced. The vote ended with 89 out of 150 representatives declaring trust in the government. No-one […]

Footballer-minister Kaladze accused of election violation

By | June 15th, 2014|Categories: Elections, News|Tags: , |

Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze denied having violated election laws. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A government spokesperson in Georgia defended himself Sunday against criticism from an opposition politician for standing in front of a political banner during a press conference on election day. Energy Minister and Vice Prime Minister Kakhi Kaladze […]

NDI poll shows patriarch remains most liked in Georgia

By | May 10th, 2014|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Patriarch Ilia II (seated, left) remains highly liked in Georgia, while former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has had a drop in popularity. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A new poll published by National Democratic Institute (NDI) shows that Patriarch Ilia II remains the most liked person in Georgia. 96 percent of those asked say the like the patriarch. 61 percent say they like Davit Usupashvili, Speaker of Parliament; […]

Energy minister attacks ombudsman over hydro power dam

By | February 8th, 2014|Categories: Environment, News|Tags: , , |

Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian Energy Minister Friday lashed out against the public defender and accused him of lying about not wanting to meet the population in a mountain valley poised to be flooded by a giantic hydro power dam. The Khudoni hydro power project will […]

Georgia halts surveying work for mega-dam

By | February 5th, 2014|Categories: Environment, News|Tags: , |

Georgia’s Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Energy Ministry in Georgia says the government is taking into account the requests of villagers in Khaishi and has halted surveying work in their village. The construction of the massive Khudoni hydropower station in northern Georgia […]

The revolving doors of Georgia’s politics and business

By | December 10th, 2013|Categories: NGO news|Tags: , |

Kakhi Kaladze (pictured) was involved in at least three companies in the energy sector before he became energy minister, according to TI’s report. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Business and politics are tightly connected in Georgia, according to a new report by Transparency International. The organization claims that some wealthy businessmen have been elected to the Georgian parliament and some members of the executive […]

Preparations continue for Georgia-Turkey 154 kV transmission line

By | October 1st, 2013|Categories: Economy, News|Tags: , |

Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A new 154 kilovolt transmission line will be built between Georgia and Turkey. Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze and Nikolay Nikolov, Vice Director of Energo-Pro Georgia signed the memorandum of understanding Monday. A memorandum was first signed in 2009, […]

Former AC Milan player Kaladze to hold final match

By | March 20th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch–The former AC Milan player who is became Georgia’s Energy Minister plans to hold a farewell football match in the end of May. Kakhi Kaladze, who played for Milan in 2001-2010 and 2010-2012 for Genoa, originally planned to hold a final symbolic […]

Enguri hydro power station is still on Georgian hands

By | November 7th, 2012|Categories: Economy, News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgia’s Energy Minister says Enguri hydro power station has not been sold but is the property of Georgia. He says there were negotiations regarding the facility but they were suspended. Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze does not comment about […]

Former AC Milan player Kaladze denied to book Tbilisi stadium

By | August 25th, 2012|Categories: News, Politics|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch – Former AC Milan player who left football to go into politics was planning to hold a friendship match with Milan in Georgia as a symbol of him leaving, but Georgia refused to make a stadium available for the match. Kakhi Kaladze, who now is a partner […]

Former AC Milan player Kakhi Kaladze fined USD 10 million

By | August 11th, 2012|Categories: News, Politics|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch – A well-known football player who left his career to join the opposition Georgian Dream coalition was on Friday fined 17 million lari for not doing as he was told by the State Audit Office. Kakhi Kaladze’s property was also seized, but he doesn’t […]

Former AC Milan player Kakhi Kaladze denied appeal hearing

By | July 31st, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch – The former footballer, now opposition campaigner Kakhi Kaladze has been deprived of the right to appeal the seizure of his bank accounts. This news was relayed by Shalva Tadumadze, a lawyer for the former AC Milan player. Tbilisi City Court […]

Seizures without Prosecution

By | July 30th, 2012|Categories: Opinion|Tags: , , |

One of the blatant illegalities that the Georgian authorities have repeatedly committed in the last few months is that they seize one’s property without bringing charges against the owner of such property or any other person with whom the owner may somehow […]

Kakhi Kaladze’s appeal fast-tracked

By | July 28th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian professional footballer who ended his career to join politics has appealed the seizure of his bank accounts. But the appeals court says it will process the appeal “without an oral hearing”, which means that there will not be a […]

Kakhi Kaladze’s bank accounts seized

By | July 27th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch – Tbilisi City Court accuses a former football player turned opposition activist of money laundering and has seized his bank accounts. Maia Panjikidze, spokesperson for Georgian Dream, said that leveling such accusations against Kakhi Kaladze, […]

Former Milan player Kakhi Kaladze’s bodyguard arrested

By | July 14th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch – Police in Georgia say they have arrested five suspects after violent clashes between government supporters and opposition activists Thursday led to thirteen people being hospitalized. Among them is the bodyguard of former AC Milan […]

Opposition takes measures against harassment of athletes

By | July 13th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch – The opposition Georgian Dream movement is campaigning to defend athletes against government harassment, but the sports minister says there is no harassment. Over 130 athletes have signed a petition organized by the opposition […]

Georgian footballer implicated in match fixing scandal

By | June 1st, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

Georgia’s most famous footballer Kakhi Kaladze denies being involved in match rigging in Italy. TBILISI, DFWatch – An investigation has been launched in Italy regarding 33 rigged football games, and Georgia’s most famous football player is implicated in the case. Kakhi Kaladze, a former professional who played Genoa during 2010-2011, denies being involved. […]

Another sportsman goes into politics in Georgia

By | May 24th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch – Another Olympic champion has been added to the list of Georgian sportsmen taking part in the political life of Georgia, as an Olympic judo champion joined Bidzina Ivanishvili’s opposition Georgian Dream movement. After a brief break, the issue of […]

Football star explains why he left

By | December 15th, 2011|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch - Public figures continue coalescing around a Georgian billionaire businessman who recently decided to go into politics and a few days ago officially established a new movement called Georgian Dream. At the movement’s launch ceremony in Tbilisi Concert Hall December 11, a famous Georgian football (soccer) player announced that he is leaving the national [...]