TBILISI/DEC. 20 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBC Bank, one of two Georgian high street banks listed on the London Stock Exchange, started building a new $70m headquarters in a controversial site in countryside near Tbilisi.
If the building work goes to plan, the glass and steel complex set in the Lisi Lake recreational area will open in 2026 and will be the largest corporate office in the region, an expression of confidence and intent by TBC.
In a statement, TBC emphasis that its new headquarters will provide a light and flexible workspace for 2,000 workers.
“We are creating a completely new standard, which involves the use of the best technologies and at the same time combining elements of traditional Georgian architecture in a completely modern building,” said Badri Japaridze, deputy chairman of TBC.
The headquarters is also being designed to incorporate laboratories for employees to experiment on new ideas and concepts.
But the project is not without its controversies. Set in the Lisi Lakes area, transparency campaigners have accused TBC’s founders of buying the land on the cheap, in a 2007 deal that left the Georgian state, and ordinary people, short-changed.
In a report published three years ago, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an activist group based in Berlin, said that TBC chairman Mamuka Khazaradze had bought the 354 hectare site from the government for $55m, instead of the original $182m asking price.
The new deal also dropped various conditions to improve the ecology of the area and also to improve access to the Lisi Lake area.
“Instead of being required to spend US$ 30 million on improvements, the only obligation in the new contracts is to build housing,” the OCCRP said in its report.
Mr Khazaradze, ranked as the second wealthiest person living in Georgia, has denied any wrongdoing.
Since buying the land, Lisi Lake Development and other companies linked to Mr Khazaradze have built housing, business centres on the site and also a university – the American Academy.
ENDS
>>This story was first published in issue 395 of The Conway Bulletin on Dec. 23 2018