Amiran Rokva

Amiran Rokva
Rokva in 2019
Born	(1962-08-07)7 August 1962 Sopatara, Lurjize
Nationality	Lurjize
Occupation	Businessman, lawyer
Known for	Rokva Bank and Trust affair Rokva International
Spouse(s)	Marika Gelovani (m. 2002)
Children	Ia Pridoni Tengiz

Amiran Rokva (born August 7, 1962) is a Lurjizean business magnate and philanthropist. After rising to domestic prominence for his role in the Rokva Bank and Trust affair, Rokva was expelled from the aforementioned company's board of directors, he allegedly briefly spent five years under house arrest before founding Rokva International, a Lurjizean hotel brand that later expanded to holding a diverse range of stake in numerous Lurjizean enterprises and sectors. In 2014, the Paluri Free Press, an independent newspaper based in Paleocacher, reported that Rokva had a role in using shell entities to illicit substances such as cocaine into Lurjize, and was conspiring with members of the National Congress to embezzle funds from tourism-related grants given to Rokva International.

Early life

Amiran Rokva was born on August 7, 1962, in the city of Sopatara, Dzveligza province as the third child of Murtaz and Eteri Rokva. His father, Murtaz, was the founder and CEO of Rokva Bank and Trust, which by the 1960s had grown to be the second most prominent banking enterprise in Lurjize (after the state-sponsored Bank of Lurjize). Amiran was born a few days after an failed assassination attempt on his father. An infant Amiran attended the execution of the perpetrators of the assassination attempts, three members of Banda Tvrameti, on May 21 1963.

Like his siblings, Amiran attended the Sopatara Immaculate Heart of Mary College, a private Catholic school in Sopatara. However, Amiran was the first of his siblings to pursue his Bachelor's degree abroad, being persuaded by his father to study at Monsilva's Central Amking University. Amiran graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1984. On October 30 1984, his older brother, Erek, was reported missing on a voyage on their father's yacht. Neither Erek's body nor Murtaz's yacht was ever located, though the Paluri Chronicle reported in 1985 that the yacht was seized by TBDNATION pirates.

Early career

In 1986, after an extended stay in Quebecshire, Amiran returned to Lurjize and accepted a consultant role for Rokva Bank and Trust. During this time, Amiran was alleged to be serving as a middleman lobbyist between his father's company and the ruling party in Lurjize. Additionally, in March 1987, independent media reported that Amiran attended a dinner with Badri Kasradze, who was serving as Minister of Finance of Lurjize. Kasradze would later be arrested for alleged ties to Banda Tvrameti during this time period. Between 1987 and 1989, Amiran held an advisory role in Kazbegi law firm, where he is credited with playing a role in the defense of Yuriy Leonidze, who had been arrested overseas on drug trafficking charges. Amiran was named to the Rokva Bank and Trust board of directors in 1992, and was the board's vice chairman from May 1994 to 1997, when he was voted as chairman of the board.

According to numerous former colleagues, Amiran was allegedly known for partying often (with these parties frequently having prostitutes). One incident in 1993 was covered in an unpublished Paluri Chronicle article, in which Amiran was escorted by Paluri police after reportedly causing a public disturbance by drunkenly swearing at passerby and attempting to solicit sex from numerous women. It is believed that a ₵100,000 donation from Amiran to the National Progress Front was tied to the suppression of the article from publication. The author associated with the unpublished article was reported missing on September 16, 1993.

Rokva Bank and Trust affair

Main article: Rokva Bank and Trust affair

Beginning in 1996, Amiran's father Murtaz had begun suffering from onset dementia. Murtaz was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in January 1997 as his condition rapidly deteriorated. Murtaz resigned as Rokva Bank and Trust's CEO in April 1997, and Amiran was voted in by the board as the interim CEO. As such, Amiran's role in the company grew vastly, and while he stepped down as chairman of Rokva Bank's board of directors, he kept his seat on the board. On 8 May 1997, in a phone call with an unidentified colleague, Amiran boasted about "his business" and stated that he couldn't wait for his father to "hurry up and go meet his Creator already." The recording of this call was obtained by the Paluri Free Press in 2014, though Rokva has claimed that the recording was tampered with and 'faked.'

A Rokva Bank and Trust location in Paluri where several bank accounts for Banda Tvrameti were opened.

As such, in this period when it became increasingly clear that Amiran would inherit Rokva Bank and Trust, Amiran also took over dealings with several illicit organizations that his father had organized. This included dealings with Banda Tvrameti, the same criminal organization that had attempted to assassinate Murtaz Rokva thirty years earlier. According to numerous recorded conversations and transcripts released to the National Congress by judicial order, Murtaz had begun setting up dealings with Banda Tvrameti as early as the mid-80s to eliminate undesirable figures. This included Pridoni Bolkvadze, a rival business executive who had reportedly wanted Murtaz eliminated. It is believed that the Lurjizean government knew of these dealings as early as 1989, following the killing of Bolkvadze, but hadn't taken action because the killings were often beneficial to the Lurjizean state. In exchange for the killings, Rokva Bank and Trust would operate bank accounts for Banda Tvrameti (and other affiliated criminal organizations).

However, despite the convenience of these dealings for the Lurjizean government, action would still need to be taken if Rokva's dealings with Banda Tvrameti were to be released, as President Daviti Urushadze was already suffering from low public opinion due to allegations of corruption and affiliation with Surian crime lords. According to transcripts allegedly obtained by the Paluri Free Press in 2001, Urushadze was "eager" for Amiran Rokva to make a wrong move, causing his dealings to be leaked and giving Urushadze a chance to appear as a strong anti-gang leader. Urushadze even allegedly contemplated having a source from within Rokva Bank and Trust leak the records of Rokva's dealings, but decided against it because "Murtaz Rokva was a good man."

Furthermore, these dealings also made Murtaz and Amiran Rokva a target of Banda Tvrameti's rivals, including Banda Akhalidana and their leader, Gualtiero Briones. It is known that Banda Akhalidana had associations with the Paluri Free Press throughout the 90's and early 2000's, and both saw eliminating Amiran as necessary because of his sponsored killings. Gualtiero Brionies' connections within the Paluri Free Press allowed him access to Paleocacher, while he would supply information about rival gangs and their associations with the Lurjizean government to the Free Press.

Amiran Bank and Trust released a statement announcing that Murtaz Rokva had passed away due to complications with his Alzheimer's on January 3, 1999. Shortly after, several members of the National Congress reported that they were contacted by someone claiming to be Avto Okinashvili, a member of the National Congress who had passed away in 1997. The individual offered to fax documents to their offices proving that Amiran Rokva was funding Banda Tvrameti to import drugs into the country and kill rivals. While the general consensus is that Rokva was orchestrating the killings, there is no proof that Rokva intentionally funded drug trafficking until after his release from house arrest. In addition to contacting National Congress members, the Avto impostor also contacted the Paluri Chronicle. Due to Avto's loyalty to the National Progress Front during his tenure, several staff at the Chronicle had went forward with publishing an article detailing Rokva's dealings with Banda Tvrameti. The Paluri Chronicle was raided on January 5, 1999 by the Lurjizean Information Authority due to an alleged meeting in which staff claimed to have "met with a man matching the look of Avto Okinashvili as he was alive" to share information about Rokva. It is estimated that 30,000 copies of the Rokva article made their way into circulation, causing sufficient discord among the Lurjizean government to warrant the arrest of Amiran Rokva.

On January 6, Amiran Rokva was arrested in Paluri. The same day, he would be expelled from his role in Rokva Bank and Trust, with the company announcing that his cousin, Giuli Rokva, would step up to become the bank's next CEO.