18. 09. 2012

Vucic:Political crime coupled with economic abuses

Belgrade, September 18, 2012 (Tanjug) - Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that the investigation into the dubious sale of a part of the media company "Politika" indicated that the authorities were dealing with "political crime coupled with economic abuses", as the case led to the Agrobanka scandal.

In a statement given to the RTS on Monday evening, Vucic said that the Farmakom company had been forced to take part in the purchase of a 50 percent stake of Politika through its daughter companies, adding that the case led to the Agrobanka scandal and that "the sum that was lacking for the purchase was secured through loans from Agrobanka and Privredna Banka Beograd."

The owner of Farmakom was forced to do a favour to the largest political party in the previous government, Vucic explained, adding that this was "political crime coupled with economic abuses".

It is rather interesting that the buyer does not have a proof of how the state gave up on its right of first refusal, he said, explaining that they had interpreted that "the lack of agency and opposition on the state's part, meant that it had given up on the right of first refusal."

Vucic said that in the coming days, the relevant authorities would find a way to protect the state's capital, but that nothing would be done to the detriment of the Farmakom company which hires more than 3,500 people, and cooperates with numerous firms.

He specified that the contract of sale of the controlling stake in Politika was signed on June 29 between Moscow-based "East Media Group" as a buyer, and "Lost Holding mb hsb" as a seller.

He noted that different procedures had been conducted in relation to the media companies Dnevnik and Vecernje Novosti, adding that "there we are not dealing with the direct purchase of the controlling stake, but rather with the purchase of outstanding obligations."

Speaking about the purchase of a part of Vecernje Novosti, Vucic said that the contract of cession was signed by six foreign companies on January 18, 2012, with a total amount of EUR 14.7 million, and that was the purchase of outstanding obligations.

According to Vucic, three companies had to receive payments from the other three companies, and that required "very complicated operations so that someone could have the media control in the future."

"For us, it is not important just to arrest, but rather to return something that belongs to the state, but with well-grounded indictments, so that no court could deliver a different verdict," Vucic said.