Georgian magnate suspected of coup plot-prosecutor

TBILISI (Reuters) - The office of Georgia's prosecutor-general said on Friday it suspected billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, who finances opposition parties, of plotting a coup and wanted to question him.

"The prosecutor's office will take actions to bring Patarkatsishvili to the investigation body and to question him as a suspect," it said in a statement.

Hours earlier, Patarkatsishvili issued a strongly worded statement criticizing President Mikhail Saakashvili over his imposition of a state of emergency on Wednesday after police crushed anti-government protests.

He described the action as undemocratic and designed to gag the opposition in advance of a presidential election in January.

Patarkatsishvili owns the main opposition television station Imedi which police raided and took off the air on Wednesday.

He headed Georgia's Olympic Committee until he was sacked earlier this year when he openly supported the opposition.

(Reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili; Writing by James Kilner; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)