Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the current Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Anaklia Development Consortium’s Supervisory Board, will resign from the board. The consortium’s shareholders have scheduled a general meeting for later this month to replace them and augment the board with highly reputable international business and professional figures.
Several days ago, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze announced that they intend to step down from the Anaklia Development Consortium’s Supervisory Board. Three new members have now been nominated to the board: R. Michael Cowgill, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia; Ted Jonas, Senior Counsel with the international law firm Dentons; and Jean-Patrick Voisin, President of Concorde Capital (full biographies of the three nominees are provided below). The nominations are expected to be approved at the consortium’s meeting of shareholders scheduled for later this month.
“Mamuka and Badri have provided great leadership to Anaklia Development Consortium, as its Chairman and Vice-Chairman,” said Levan Akhvlediani, CEO of the consortium. “However, in view of the legal proceedings initiated against them, which are legally unrelated to ADC or to the Anaklia Port development project, Mr. Khazaradze and Mr. Japaridze have taken the initiative of resigning from the Board in order to isolate ADC from any possible adverse consequences that could result from these legal proceedings. Our three new board nominees are individuals who are well known in international business and professional circles, particularly regarding this region, and bring important skills and experience to the board. The new members include two American citizens and a French citizen, emphasizing the depth of the American and European interest in the Anaklia Port Project,” according to Akhvlediani.
Mamuka Khazaradze, the outgoing board chairman, stated: “This project is much bigger than Badri and me. It is vitally important that any issues about the two of us, regardless of how unjustified or unfair they are, not negatively impact the Anaklia Port project. We will therefore not only remove ourselves from the board, but also put our shares, into a secure, international blind trust structure, for as long as needed to fight the wrongful allegations made against us and fully clear our names.”
Once the shareholders vote to approve the appointments, R. Michael Cowgill is expected to assume the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Mr. Jonas and Mr. Voisin will join as regular members. Other existing members of the Board, Mr. Bob Meijer and Mr. Dimitri Abdushelishvili will also retain their positions.
Following are full biographies of the new nominees to Anaklia’s board: Link