Former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is currently a litigant against Credit Suisse in Singapore. Now in Ukraine, there are demands for steps to be taken against the wealthy ex-politician.
Ukraine is calling on world governments to impose sanctions on the former Prime Minister of Georgian, Bidzina Ivanishvili, according to a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry list that includes the names of some 18,000 people who it believes have close ties to its adversary, Russia.
$1.27 Billion Damages Sought
According to a report by the journalists' collective «Open Caucasus Media», several business partners and relatives of the former prime minister of Georgia also ended up on that list. Last June, EU parliamentarians had already demanded measures against Ivanishvili, whose real-time net worth is $4.8 billion, according to «Forbes».
Ukraine's demand for sanctions comes as Ivanishvili's lawyers and a Credit Suisse subsidiary are facing off in Singapore since the beginning of the week. Due to the fraud of the former banker Patrice Lescaudron and the alleged negligence of Credit Suisse's supervision of him, the Eastern Ivanishvili is seeking $1.27 billion in damages.
Victory in Bermuda
In a Bermuda lawsuit that the Iwanishvili camp won last March, the Credit Suisse subsidiary was ordered to pay over $600 million in damages, although the bank has announced its intention to challenge the verdict. In Singapore, Credit Suisse is asking the court to dismiss the case, arguing it is against the wrong defendant on the wrong basis.
As it now turns out, the billion-dollar lawsuit is casting a spotlight not only on the Swiss bank but also on the plaintiff. According to the Open Caucasus Media report, Ukrainians accuse Ivanishvili of maintaining close ties with people close to the Kremlin and supporting them financially. They claim, therefore, that he poses a threat to Ukraine's independence, while On in Georgian, politicians rejected those arguments.
Surrounded Worldwide
Since 2015, Ivanishvili has gone from being a client to an outright opponent of Credit Suisse. Along with the Credit Suisse Victims association, he and other Lescaudron victims are publicly confronting the bank, while his lawyers have surrounded it with lawsuits around the world.
In Geneva, a criminal investigation by the public prosecutor's office into Lescaudron is currently underway. In December, finews.com reported that six former and current high-ranking Credit Suisse employees were summoned for questioning by the Geneva prosecutor's office.
