Two companies, closely related to the arms dealer Slobodan Tešić, in December of last year they exported weapons worth 31,5 million euros to Great Britain, despite the fact that Tešić has been on the black list of that country for three years due to corruption, reveals BIRN.
It was December 9, 2022 - International Anti-Corruption Day. Symbolically, the UK government has published a list of 30 new people it is imposing sanctions on, writes BIRN.
Among them was Slobodan Tešić, one of the most powerful Balkan arms dealers, which was previously under American sanctions for many years.
For the government of Great Britain, Tešić is a person who was "involved in serious corruption through bribing foreign public officials."
As they stated, Tešić allegedly bribed the officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina - the now deceased Milorad Barašanin, the chief prosecutor, as well as Selmo Cikotić, the former defense minister.
Three years later, BIRN reveals that companies linked to Slobodan Tešić, despite the fact that he is under sanctions, are exporting weapons to Great Britain.
The export started just two months ago, BIRN said.
Despite the sanctions, the sale is taking place without any problems
The Sofag company, directly owned by Tešić's daughter Jelena Petrović, exported weapons worth 2024 million euros to Great Britain in December 12,1.
The company Valir, which BIRN previously wrote about as a company used by Tešić to circumvent US sanctions, and which sold weapons to a company working for the Pentagon, exported goods worth 7.12 million euros in November, while in December it exported goods worth 12.25 million euros - which is a total of 19.37 million euros at the end of last year
The total export of the two companies to Great Britain is worth 31.5 million euros, according to data from a portal that collects business data of state institutions, which BIRN had access to.
The British Embassy in Belgrade had a short answer to BIRN's questions:
"The United Kingdom has strong mechanisms for applying economic sanctions against individuals and companies. None of these companies are covered by them in the UK.”
Sanctions against Tešić include a travel ban, but also financial sanctions in the form of "freezing funds". According to the regulations of the British government, this also applies to economic resources managed by persons under the control of persons under sanctions, in this case Tešić.
The company Valir confirms that they export to the UK, but claim that they have nothing to do with Tešić.
"Regarding the company's operations, we would like to point out to you the circumstance that our company would not be able to do business on the territory of Great Britain or with entities from Great Britain if there was any connection with legal or natural persons that are under the sanctions regime". they claim in a written response to BIRN.
Sofag refused to answer questions about exports to Great Britain, stating that it was a "trade secret".
"Also, we note your clarification that you are dealing with a certain topic due to the family relationship of certain persons (which is also publicly available information on the APR), and on this occasion we request that you adhere to the professional standards of your profession in reporting and do not draw misplaced or inappropriately suggestive conclusions which can harm our business relations", they stated in a written response to BIRN.
BIRN also contacted one of the companies directly owned by Slobodan Tešić. Although an employee of that company stated that she would forward our request to Tešić for an interview, no one contacted us until the publication of the text.
Predrag Petrović, director of research at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, BCBP, tells BIRN that the West tolerates the export of companies linked to Tešić, despite the sanctions, because it suits them in the context of the war in Ukraine.
"It is in the function of their interests." The fact that sanctions were imposed on Tešić has less weight than the fact that the weapons end up on the Ukrainian battlefield, in the hands of the Ukrainian army", he points out for BIRN.
The resurgence of Slobodan Tešić begins with the coming to power of the Serbian Progressive Party - and at a significantly higher level than in the previous period. Companies connected to Tešić buy weapons from state-owned companies, and then export them all over the world. In previous years, the media published numerous stories about Tešić buying weapons at privileged prices. Whistleblower Aleksandar Obradović, a former employee of Krusik from Valjevo, also spoke about this.
Sofag and Valir: Rapid rise and connection with Tešić
The Sofag company was registered in April 2022, and the 3.47% owner is Tešić's daughter Jelena Petrović. The company is experiencing a meteoric rise. From 2022 million euros of income in 35.29, to 2023 million euros of income in 900 - which is an increase of over XNUMX percent, writes BIRN.
Financial statements for the year 2024 are not yet available, however, the export data that BIRN had access to indicates that growth continued steadily, considering that the company exported weapons worth 51.6 million euros.
In 2023, the media wrote, initially the Russian Mash, that the weapons exported by Sofag to Turkey ended up in Ukraine.
Another company that records exports to Great Britain - Valir doo - became known to the general public after the Antonov An-17 cargo plane crashed in Greece on July 2022, 12, carrying Serbian weapons allegedly for Bangladesh. According to a BIRN investigation that dealt with Tešić's evasion of American sanctions, Valir is under the control of Slobodan Tešić.
This firm was registered in December 2019, just two weeks after the US expanded sanctions against Tešić and his associates.
The current owner is Mladen Bogdanović, however, the founder and previous owner and director of the company was Stefan Čupković, who in the same year became the representative of the representative office of the company Elvante Limited in Belgrade, a company related to Goran Andrić, one of Tešić's closest associates, who since December 2019 .is also under the sanctions of the US administration.
Another company represented by Stefan Čupković, which is indirectly linked to Slobodan Tešić, is Lusor doo. This company was founded on September 23, 2020, and its headquarters were at the same address as the headquarters of the representative office of Elvante Limited, in Diplomatic Colony No. 2.
The owner of the Lusor company was another significant associate of Slobodan Tešić - Kaled Hamed, a Yemeni citizen with a Serbian passport. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, while he was prime minister, granted citizenship to Kaled Hamed in 2016, skipping the regular procedure and citing "national interest", KRIK announced.
The previous legal representatives of Valir, and applicants in the APR, were Sanja Capetina, who previously represented several companies under the control of Slobodan Tešić, as well as Vera Diković, who was also the attorney for Tešić's second daughter, Danijela Vasilijević, in the company Emar.
Valir was also represented by the Ačanski law office, which has been representing Tešić's companies, associates and family members for at least 15 years.
Read more about this topic on the portal BIRN
