18. 07. 2012

DS official, businessman deny buying Belgrade daily

Belgrade, July 18, 2012 (B92, Tanjug) - Farmakom company owner Miroslav Bogićević has said that he did not purchase Belgrade-based daily Politika and that he is not in any way involved in the matter.

"I do not see how anyone got the idea to raise such an alarm and use my name," Bogićević told Belgrade-based daily Press and added that those who were spreading such information had no right to abuse him and his family.

The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) stated on Tuesday that Politika had a new owner, as Moscow-based East Media Group purchased from 50 percent of shares in the company from the German group WAZ.

In addition to the release, the party submitted a copy of the report by the Business Registers Agency about the new ownership structure of Politika which shows that a change in the ownership structure was listed on July 16.

According to the document, the business name OST HOLDING GMBH was erased and the new name listed is OOO East Media Group with the seat in Moscow, and it has a 50 percent share in Politika.

"The SNS wants to know whether Miroslav Bogićević and Democratic Party (DS) deputy leader Dušan Petrović or perhaps Božidar Đelić are behind this, and it also wishes to know whether DS believes all papers in Serbia, such as Belgrade-based daily Blic, should be its party medium," the SNS stated in a release.

The United Regions of Serbia (URS) issued a release in which it asked about Politika's new owner and whether it is true that the new owner was Petrović and individuals connected to him, "tycoon and one of DS financiers Miroslav Bogićević and his associate Uroš Stefanović who holds office as the director of the Moscow-based company East Media Group".

Petrović stated on Wednesday that the claims of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on his participation in the change of the ownership structure in Politika were sheer insinuations and were completely untrue.

"The SNS insinuations about my participation in the change of Politika's ownership structure are completely untrue and are not worth a single word or any further comment," Petrović told Tanjug.

Politika Director Zefirino Grasi does not know who bought Politika Newspapers and Magazines and how the sale was carried out.

"We learned about the news when an associate of ours downloaded the data from the Business Registers Agency's website. Therefore, I have not learnt anything more than this and I was not informed about the sale earlier either," Grasi said.

He pointed out that WAZ offered Politika to buy out its 50 percent of the share in mid-March.

"We requested additional explanation because it was not clear in their offer whether we would take over all other obligations and rights by buying their share. After some time, a reply arrived that since we did not say whether we wanted or not they believed that we rejected the offer and that they would sell their share to the third party," Grasi pointed out.

According to him, WAZ sent a letter on May 15 informing them that Politika Newspapers and Magazines would stop all payments to Politika since it allegedly banned payment of some loans to Politika Newspapers and Magazines. Grasi said that he was not at all familiar with the issue.

"This has created a huge problem in Politika's business because our daughter company at the moment owes us around RSD 20mn which caused us financial difficulties," Grasi explained.

Politika co-owns Politika Newspapers and Magazines with 50 percent share.