08. 11. 2005

ILIC: DJILAS RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLAPSE OF RTS

VALJEVO, November 8, 2005 – Capital Investment Minister Velimir Ilic stated B92 was being financed by mafia and tycoons and made series of accusations against the Director of the People’s Office of the Serbian President Dragan Djilas. Speaking for the local “Vujic Television” from Valjevo, Ilic accused Djilas of running a campaign against him. He also said Djilas was “the boss of B92 and daily ‘Kurir’, which he would soon prove. “That’s true and the whole Serbia knows it is. I can prove that, but let’s see if he (Djilas) can prove otherwise.” The Capital Investment Minister said that “Djilas was racketing certain public companies like Telecom”. He also said Djilas was responsible for the collapse of Radio Television Serbia, which would now fall on the backs of the people of Serbia. Ilic challenged Djilas to a TV duel, adding he would “put him behind the bars sooner or later”. Ilic also accused Djilas of “trespassing of TV B92 on his private property (in village Atenica near Cacak). “I will teach him (Djilas) a lesson sooner or later. I will never forgive him that, he will have to explain what B92 was doing on my property where my father, grandfather, all my ancestors lived, and where my family lives now”, said Ilic. Minister Ilic criticized Serbian president Boris Tadic for being surrounded by “the distrustful characters like Djilas and (Srdjan) Saper who pat him on the back”.