"I have never participated in one privatization, nor in any robbery, corruption, the smuggling of oil, cigarettes, weapons or any monopoly privilege regarding the import of excise goods or illegal activities," wrote the businessman Bogoljub Karic in the author's text for the daily newspaper "Danas".
He also complained that during the time of the government Vojislav Koštunica property, which included BK Television, BK University and Mobtel, "illegally seized, nationalized, sold off and destroyed, although all courts - domestic and European - confirmed that everything was created legally, honestly and professionally".
"Today, unfortunately, my business only does not exist in Serbia. From the time of Vojislav Koštunica's government until today, I have been de facto forbidden to work in my own country," said Karić, among other things.
"Instead of asking me to give you a concrete plan - how 300 companies in Serbia can produce 300 billion euros of gross domestic product per year, how salaries for jobs should not be below 3.000 euros per month, and how pensions should not be less than 1.500 euros per month - you deal with lies, accusations and discrediting my name, the man behind millions of square meters built in the world," said Karić.
"Instead of using brains and energy for the development and progress of Serbia and its citizens, you are trying to intimidate and discredit those whose names are spoken with great respect in the world - visionaries, creators and builders," concluded Karić.
Karić's zenith in the Milošević era
The business empire of Bogoljub Karić experienced its zenith in the nineties, during the reign of Slobodan Milošević.
His problems began with the democratic changes in Serbia in 2000, and culminated at the end of 2005, when the Government of Serbia revoked Mobtel's license, due to an "act of high treason", i.e. the fact that Mobtel did business with Ekrem Luka in 2003 and 2004, who, as the Government stated, helped Kosovo Liberation Army.
In December 2005, the Supreme Court confirmed the decision on the liquidation of Astra Bank, which - after the withdrawal of the license to operate in November 2001 - began the liquidation of this bank, which stood at the center of the business system of the Karić family.
Escape from Serbia
This is why Bogoljub Karić fled Serbia in 2006.
According to the indictment from 2010, he was charged with abuse of official position responsible person during the period from 1998 to 2005, i.e. for the illegal withdrawal of 60 million euros from the company Mobtel.
In addition to Bogoljub Karić, the indictment included Sreten Karić and 14 other persons, since, as the indictment claimed, "as responsible persons in Mobtel and other companies privately owned by the Karić family, they concluded contracts, legal deals, almost exclusively with companies from the BK group, which were harmful to Mobtel and the state as one of the co-owners".
On January 10, 2006, the Tax Administration submitted Republic Public Prosecutor's Office and to the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office, information on the control of the operations of the company Mobtel and related companies.
At that time, it was stated that the operations of Mobtel and related companies "threatened the interests of the Republic of Serbia and that, therefore, the Tax Administration expects the competent authorities to take the necessary measures."
The media stated that there is documentation that "points to economic crime of the highest rank, in which many members of the Karić family and people who worked for them, from managers to some judges, are involved."
Endangering national security and tax evasion
There were also reports that "numerous criminal acts are suspected to have been committed, from endangering national security to multimillion-dollar tax evasion."
According to the media, in 2003, Mobtel bought 79 apartments, of which four apartments belonged to Karić, and 75 were bought by Mobtel employees for 10 percent of the market value, which caused the state to pay a large part taxes.
In January 2006, the Ministry of Internal Affairs launched a search for Sreten Karić, against whom the Tax Administration filed a criminal complaint on the charge of tax evasion in the amount of 2,8 million euros.
The tax administration filed criminal charges against Bogoljub, Sreten, Zoran and Dragomir Karić "due to reasonable suspicion that they committed the crime of tax evasion in the amount of 7,7 million German marks from 1999 to 2001."
Then it was announced that Bogoljub Karić, of the 12 houses, 34 apartments, 13 lots and three garages, with a total area of 37 square meters owned by the Karić family (estimated value at 60 million euros), has nothing, and that his wife Milanka only has an apartment of 34 square meters.
New criminal charges
In February and March 2006, new criminal charges were filed, the then Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic announced the confiscation of property, if Karići does not settle the tax debt of 3,3 million euros.
The MUP filed a criminal complaint against Karić due to the well-founded suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position and that "in co-perpetration with Vidomir Parežanin, Panto Urošević, Miša Kuzmanović and Smilja Mladenović, he damaged the state for more than 20 million dollars".
PTT Srbija, then a co-owner of Mobtel, sued Mobtel for unpaid dividends, and in March the Special Team of the Economic Crime Suppression Department of the Criminal Police Administration SUP Belgrade announced that "since the beginning of the extensive review of Mobtel's operations, 11 criminal charges and 18 supplementary criminal charges have been submitted to the District Prosecutor's Office, which included 20 responsible persons due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that they had committed 29 criminal acts independently or as accomplices".
It was established that those people damaged Mobtel in the "so far established amount of 10.001.742.331 dinars (115 million euros), and that at the time of committing the criminal acts, that amount was much higher."
In April 2006, in the middle of the night, the police, following the decision of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, canceled the broadcasting of BK Television. The decision was justified by the violation of the Law on Broadcasting, namely those articles that speak "about the rational use of frequency as a natural resource", "about the free information of citizens", but also by the violation of the article that says that "no one has the right to influence the work of Council members in any way".
Everything changes when the progressives come to power
By victory Tomislav Nikolić in the elections for the president of Serbia in 2012, a coalition gathered around Serbian Progressive Party, and after several unsuccessful attempts, Karić's party Movement of the Power of Serbia, i.e. Bogoljub's brother Dragomir and his wife Milanka, entered the Serbian Parliament. They remained on the progressive list even after the 2014 and 2016 elections.
Bogoljub Karić returned to Serbia from Minsk on a private plane at the end of 2016, 11 years after fleeing the country.
A few days before his return, the international arrest warrant for Karić was canceled after judicial proceedings against him were suspended in Serbia.
Due to lack of evidence, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime suspended the investigation against Karić regarding the establishment of his former mobile phone company Mobtel and enabling Cypriot companies to receive foreign currency loans from his Astra Bank without guarantees.
Previously, due to the statute of limitations, the proceedings against Karić were suspended due to the suspicion that he was withdrawing money from Mobtel.
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