17. 06. 2005

ORLIC: ARROGANCE OF AUTHORITIES

BELGRADE, June 17, 2005 – Head of the Serbia-Montenegro Council of Ministers’ Information Directorate Slobodan Orlic has strenuously criticized the Serbian Taxation Office. Orlic has protested against the Finance Ministry’s Taxation Office for taking away part of the equipment of the Belgrade daily Kurir, that is, forced payment of the outstanding debt of the daily. Orlic has issued a written statement saying that Kurir has not been allowed a standard procedure of several days to pay taxes, which only demonstrated the authorities’ arrogance and lack of political will to deal with their dissatisfaction with critical reporting of the media on daily political activities and figures in a democratic manner. “Each individual and institution has the right to protect its reputation and integrity with either denial, or legal complaint”, said Orlic, noting that the action against Kurir sent a wrong message on the behavior of the authorities in Serbia, and proved that the sense that the media controlled politics and politicians was still far away from becoming reality. Belgrade dailies Glas Javnosti and Kurir accused Finance Minister and G17plus official Mladjan Dinkic of trying to destroy these two media outlets for their critical reporting on minister’s conduct. Dinkic however claimed that the owner of these two dailies Radisav Radic launched a media chase against him because the Taxation Office had refused to disregard the outstanding debt. The Taxation Office issued a statement noting that two legal complaints have been raised against responsible in Rodic’s company for alleged tax evading. The authorized persons in Publishing Company Glas-Belgrade, Publishing Company Kurir-Info and company Ronako from Opovo, all owned by Rodic, have systematically and for a longer period of time failed to deliver the necessary documentation to the taxation assessors, said in the statement. “Radisav Rodic denied having financial documentation; however, the Taxation inspectors have found these documents in the company’s premises. The control was deliberately delayed and obstructed by providing each requested document one at a time. Like in any other case of unsettled taxation obligations within the legal timeframe, the Taxation Office has initiated the forced payment with inventory, evaluation and requisition of the property”, said in the statement. On the other hand, the founder and owner of the dailies Glas Javnosti and Kurir Radisav Rodic has denied all claims of the Taxation Office that the taxation control in these companies lasted longer than usually due to the systematic refusal of the management to provide inspectors with the necessary documentation. Rodic said that four teams of inspectors were present in the offices of Glas and Kurir every day, demanding all documents to be provided immediately, paying no attention to the fact that “they were breaking principal rights of a tax payer”. Rodic also denied the claim that he refused to provide requested documentation to the inspectors. “It is true that the taxation inspectors went into the accounting office and seized the documentation as they saw fit”, said Rodic. Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) protested against the politicization of the case of Glas Javnosti and Kurir, and urged Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic to hasten the process of tax control of these two dailies and reassess its regularity. IJAS also stated that the inspection was indeed a legitimate way of verifying regularity of companies’ business conduct, and that there was no legal limit for duration of these procedures. However, the association stipulated, if these controls lasted over three months and equipment was seized, it was rather hard to believe that there were no other motives than just professional behind all this.