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A leading British investor in Georgia has said that his company's property has been handed over to asset-stripping "criminals" by Georgian courts while President Mikheil Saakashvili has refused to act.

Thomas Blake, of Thames Steel UK - the second biggest UK investor in Georgia - says the courts have handed over companies owned by Thames Steel in Rustavi to the Kolkhi Business Corporation which is busily destrotying the steel making capacity of the Rustavi Steel works - once one of the most important in the Soviet Union - by selling off key equipment.

"We were deprived of our assets by criminals with the help of the Georgian court," he said today.

"We have applied for help to the Georgian President and the Prime Minister, though in vain. It’s a pity the Georgian government cares only to attract investments and not to protect them."

Blake says he is to appeal to the UK government for help.

The case has strong political overtones: the late Badri Patarkatsishvili, an opposition candidate for president in 2008,  is the former owner of the steel works and Blake says Thames Steel were blocked from taking control of their assets by the Georgian courts after they tried to dismiss Joesph Kay - a relative of Patarkatsishvili who claimed the late millionaire gave him control of the Imedi TV station.

Kay's claims have always been disputed by Patarkatsishvili's family but have been upheld by the notoriously corrupt Georgian courts. Kay sold the TV station - once the leading anti-Saakashvili voice in the media - on to supporters of the regime.