A yoga-loving billionaire with a private zoo and priceless modern art collection, Georgia’s enigmatic Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili rose from dire poverty to the pinnacle of power in the ex-Soviet state.
Tycoon Ivanishvili ?- a self-styled anti-politician who emerged from the shadows to wrest power from his arch-foe outgoing President Mikheil Saakashvili ?- is set to call time on his year as premier after installing his loyal allies including his 31-year-old successor to run the country.
Yet the question remains whether Ivanishvili will retreat to obscurity in his hilltop mansion overlooking the capital Tbilisi or retain a hidden but powerful influence over the country’s politics.
?I did not set out to make a political career. I have always kept on saying that I am not a politician,? Ivanishvili told AFP in a recent interview.
Ivanishvili ?- an elfin 57-year old with a splash of grey in his neatly coiffured hair — is Georgia?s richest man and was ranked 229th in Forbes magazine’s 2013 list of the world’s billionaires with an estimated fortune of $5.3 billion.
Born in a small village, he made his money in Russia during the cutthroat 1990s when oligarchs amassed huge wealth in privatisation deals.
Together with Russian partner Vitaly Malkin, he started out selling computers and later founded Rossiyskiy Kredit Bank and bought mining and metals interests, which he sold to invest in the Moscow stock market.
He also set up a pharmacy chain and invested in elite real estate and agricultural enterprises.
As a philanthropist, Ivanishvili has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to restore historic Georgian monuments, theatres, museums and schools.
He paid to build the country’s biggest Orthodox church and funded hundreds of artists and intellectuals.
He has even bought uniforms for the army.
Lucian Freud and penguin zoo
Ivanishvili is also a noted art collector. In 2006, he paid a reported $95 million for Pablo Picasso’s painting “Dora Maar with Cat”.
His $50 million glass-and-steel mansion complex designed by Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu is decorated with the works of contemporary artists such as Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein and Anish Kapoor.
At one of his other villas on Georgia?s Black Sea coast, Ivanishvili ?- who says he does yoga every day — keeps a private zoo of exotic animals including zebras, kangaroos and penguins.
Before announcing that he was entering politics in October 2011, he spent years in self-imposed seclusion in his native village, where he had renovated villagers’ houses and built a hospital and a school.
Few people even knew what he looked like until he challenged -? and beat ?- Saakashvili’s party at parliament elections last year, accusing the president of having turned the country into an authoritarian state during nearly a decade in charge.
Despite allegations that he was serving arch-foe Russia’s interests, Ivanishvili ?- who has led the country as a French citizen after opponents stripped him of his Georgian passport — shares Saakashvili’s ambitions to join the European Union and NATO.
Ahead of last year?s poll Ivanishvili sold all his Russian businesses and his attempts to improve ties with Moscow, which fought a five-day war with Georgia in 2008, have met with limited success.
During his year at the helm, Ivanishvili has been criticised for perceived selective justice as a string of top Saakashvili allies were arrested.
He also raised eyebrows by summoning journalists and analysts to his mansion to grill them for hours on live television over criticism his government has failed to fulfil its promises.
Continuing to pull the strings?
Having said he has achieved all he set out to in power, Ivanishvili is now living up to his longstanding pledge to step down.
Last month, a handpicked supporter, Giorgi Margvelashvili, claimed the presidency with a crushing victory to succeed Saakashvili, whose two terms in charge are up.
On Saturday, Ivanishvili named another ally, 31-year-old interior minister Irakli Garibashvili to replace him as prime minister.
He has denied that he will continue to pull the strings once he steps down ?- a claim many find difficult to believe ?- and mooted hazy plans to build up civil society.
He has committed $1 billion to an investment fund aimed at bolstering economic growth in the country.
Ivanishvili has also mentioned the possibility of writing a book about his philosophy on life and human nature.
A married father of four, Ivanishvili has helped turn his albino son Bera, 18, into Georgia?s biggest rap star and took the name for his Georgian Dream political coalition from one of his songs.
Ivanishvili: Enigmatic billionaire PM bows out... or does he?
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