The Tax Police and UKP conducted searches in more than 50 companies throughout Serbia as part of the anti-corruption campaign. Among the companies under investigation are companies connected to Minister Novic Tončev, as well as famous Belgrade restaurants that President Vučić bragged about.
Members of the Tax Police and the UKP are under the order of the Special Suppression Department corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade on Wednesday (February 19) entered more than 50 companies in different cities of Serbia in order to carry out checks on their business, it was confirmed to the media.
As part of this action, 16 people were arrested on suspicion of having committed criminal acts as an organized group: tax evasion, tax fraud related to value added tax and unfounded disclosure of the amount for tax refunds, thereby damaging the Serbian budget in the amount of over 199 million dinars, as well as the criminal offense of money laundering with the realized illegal property benefit in the amount of over 1,3 billion dinars. The suspects were detained for up to 48 hours.
This is part of the action to detect and prosecute corrupt crimes, which was announced by the President of Serbia a few weeks ago Aleksandar Vučić.
Among the companies that are "combing" are, as the public service portal found out, "Tončev grupa" from Niš, "Tončev gradnja" from Surdulica, "Fristajler" from Belgrade, Winery "Škrbić", "Gras garden", restaurant "Sava nova Plus", Putevi Uzice, IT Gloub, NBI NAT doo Kragujevac, etc.
At the moment, more than 50 companies are under scrutiny, and in the coming days, control will follow in an even greater number of companies throughout Serbia, RTS reports.
Under attack Novica Tončev
The first two on the list of companies reported by RTS, "Tončev gradnja" and "Tončev grupa" are owned by a high-ranking official of the Socialist Party of Serbia and minister without portfolio Novica Tončev.
As previously reported by the media, these two companies received multimillion-dollar contracts from the Government of Serbia. As the portal 021.rs writes, in July 2023, the Ministry of Economy entrusted the reconstruction of the economic and tourist center in the village of Binovci to the company "Tončev gradnja" in a consortium with the companies "Geourb group" and "Gardal". As it was announced, the value of this contract is 44.693.175 dinars or close to 400.000 euros, and there were only bidders at the tender.
In April 2023, the same company of the minister and some other companies received a contract from the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government for the reconstruction of a cooperative home in Suvojnica near Surdulica. For that, they were paid 130.641.544 dinars or about 1,1 million euros. In the Decision on awarding the contract, it is stated that "that price is higher than the estimated value, but that it is in accordance with the market values of the mentioned works and within the available financial resources of the client".
These are just some of the jobs that this company received. The total list is much longer. When all the deals are added up, over the years, the companies owned by Novica Tončeva received tens of millions of euros from the state coffers for various jobs.
After the news about the investigation, Tončev told N1 that he learned about it from the media and that for now there is no more information about the action being carried out.
"I absolutely support any action aimed at fighting corruption and crime in general." Everyone, but everyone, should be held accountable for their actions and there must be no privileged parties," said the prominent socialist.
He added that in the case of an attack on him, through his family, he will file criminal charges against those responsible.
"But if, as has been the case so far, it is determined that this is just another in a series of baseless attacks on me through my family, I will personally file criminal charges against everyone who participated in it," Tončev said.
Suspicious owner of "Sava Nova Plus"
The police also raided the premises of the "Sava nova Plus" restaurant, whose official owner is Miloš Vučković. Unofficially, according to the media, the de facto owner is businessman Andrej Kesić, who is the former or current owner of numerous catering facilities in Belgrade, such as "Manufaktura" and "Dorćoleta", and since last year, the "Kalenić" cafe.
"Time", by the way, is wrote about Andrej Kesić ten years ago, director of the "first facility within the Belgrade on the Water project". At the end of October 2014, the company "Štrafta" was founded in APR, fully owned by Miroslav Kesić; Andrej Kesić was appointed director. The registered capital of the newly founded company was 5000 dinars, and the address where the company is registered is the apartment where Ljiljana Kesić lives.
In the new year 2015, "Štrafta" enters with a new name - "Sava nova".
Miroslav and Ljiljana Kesić could be the parents of "Sava Nova" director Andrej Kesić. His name, by the way, is on the American website jail.com, in the database of legal offenders in the USA. Therefore, in 2013, Andrej Kesić was arrested in California for petty theft. The dates of birth of the director of "Sava Nova" (December 30, 1969) and the one arrested in California also match.
The first building built as part of the "Belgrade on the Water" project is often the meeting place of the President of Serbia. A few years ago, Vučić bragged about building this restaurant.
"I remember, at the beginning, when 'Savanova' was built, people said that we had to find a tavern first of all... Those were remarks, Vučić's phantasmagoria... Look now, at how fast this is progressing, the buildings seem to be 'springing out of the water'," Vučić said in 2020.
Three years earlier, the President of Serbia hosted Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates in the restaurant "Sava Nova".
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"Freestyler" and lesser-known companies
The famous Belgrade raft "Freestyler" became even more famous when it sank during the celebration of the new year 2023, and the police evacuated the guests. According to the database of the Agency for Business Registers (APR), a certain Marko Radulović is listed as the director of "Freestyler", while the owner of the club is a Greek citizen, Markos Ljapis, with a 10% share and founding capital of XNUMX thousand dinars.
As the portal Danas writes, for many years there has been speculation about the real owners, and quite often numerous clubs and catering establishments, including "Freestyler" itself, are connected to the top of the government, but also to criminal clans. However, there is rarely material evidence for such claims.
Not much is known about the "Škrbić" winery. According to data from APR, it was founded in 2014 and the 2023% owner is Vukašin Škrbić. On the Company Wall website, it is stated that the total income of this company for the year 316.000 was 7.000 dinars, and that the company's profit for that year was only XNUMX dinars.
The company "Gras garden" was founded in 2010 as a company for landscaping services and environmental maintenance. Not much is known about this company either. The owner and director is Veroljub Radoja, and it is interesting that the company has a total of 18 current accounts registered with the Agency for Business Registers. Also, Company Wall states that some of the accounts were previously blocked in 2022 and 2024.
And the company "IT Globe" is relatively unknown to the public. It was founded in 2021 with a share capital of 1.000 dinars, and the owner and director is Vladimir Dolinaj.
Joint stock company and weapons factory
The action is also carried out in the joint-stock company Putevi Užice, which has been operating in Serbia since 2000 and has 678 employees, according to the Company Wall website. The general director and legal representative is Vladan Stamenić, former director of the branch of this company in Russia.
The company Putevi centar doo Beograd owns the majority share in this company, owned by Vesna Mićić, while the director is Danilo Mićić.
The company NBI NAT doo Kragujevac deals with the production of ammunition and weapons, and was founded in 2005. The owner and director of the company is Željko Blagojević.
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