2 Israelis freed from Georgian prison
Businessmen Ron Fuchs and Zeev Frenkiel, who were imprisoned on suspicion of bribing local officials, arrive in Israel after being pardoned by Georgian president
Ron Fuchs and Zeev Frenkiel, the two Israeli businessmen jailed in Georgia, have arrived in Israel and met with their families Friday. The two were released after being pardoned by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
"It feels great to be back," Fuchs said, and thanked all those who worked towards their release.
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Earlier Friday, Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze accepted Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's invitation to visit the Jewish state. He is expected to make the trip in the coming weeks. The visit intends to rekindle the ties and cooperation between the two nations.
President Shimon Peres was involved in the negotiations leading to the businessmen's release, and sent a personal letter on Wednesday to his Georgian counterpart.
On Friday morning, the president's spokesperson held a press conference where she announced that the pardon was granted, following Peres' request. Shortly afterwards, the two were released from jail and made their way back to Israel on a private jet.
"Following a request from the government of Israel, and a personal request by the Israeli president, and while taking under consideration the age and medical condition of the two men convicted, the president decided to grant them a pardon," said Manana Manjgaladze.
Fuchs and Frenkiel were arrested last year on suspicion that they tried to bribe an official at the Finance Ministry. The two denied the charges, claiming they were victims of a sting operation staged by the authorities.
Lengthy prison sentence
The court sentenced Fuchs to seven years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Georgian Lari (some NIS 1 million). Frenkiel was sentenced to six and a half years in jail and a fine of 100,000 Georgian Lari (some NIS 200,000).
The affair began in 1991, when a company represented by Fuchs started looking for investment opportunities in Georgia’s energy sector. In 1992 the company established a joint venture with the Georgian state oil company and obtained concession on the construction of an oil pipeline to transport Azerbaijani oil to the western market via Georgia and Turkey.
The two had sued the Georgian government after a deal they signed for the development of oil pipelines in the country was revoked.
On March 3, a London-based tribunal ruled that Georgia violated the multilateral Energy Charter Treaty and that each of the investors should be granted tens of millions of dollars in damages.
In October 2010, the two were arrested after meeting with Georgian Deputy Finance Minister Avtandil Kharadze.
According to Georgian prosecutors, the two were awarded nearly $100 million in an arbitration process, but the Georgian government had tried to challenge the decision to transfer them the money.
The two businessmen allegedly met with the deputy minister and offered him a bribe in exchange for convincing the government ministers not to oppose the results of the arbitration process.
Ronen Medzini contributed to this report
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