Serbia is the endowment of Alajbeg straw

There is a great danger that someone will sell part of the Nikola Spasić Foundation, two floors in a building in Belgrade at Knez Mihailova Street 33. Those two floors are state property, and the building is a cultural asset of great importance for the Republic of Serbia. The endowment is trying to prevent this theft and the transfer of state to private property, and the state acts as if it would be just fine with it. It sounds incredible, but it's not.

This story needs to be explained chronologically. Nikola Spasić built the building at Knez Mihailova 33 for himself and lived in it until the end of his life. When Nikola Spasić in 1912 founded the Endowment in his will in order to donate all his property to the Serbian people, it was about the value of the property of the Nobel Foundation at that time. He expressly forbade any alienation or sale of the property he had given to the Endowment and ordered that the real estate be leased at market conditions and that hospitals, other buildings and donations be made from that income.

By the decree of King Alexander in 1922, the work of the Nikola Spasić Endowment was approved, so its Board of Directors began to realize what was entrusted to it: the Endowment built the City Hospital in Belgrade, the Hospital in Kumanovo, Krupnja, the Home for the Infirm in Knjaževac, Spasić pavilion at the Old Fair... All this from the interest and rent of the five houses that Spasić left to his people. Then, with nationalization, in 1959, the property of Spasić's endowment became state property and was given to the administration of the municipality of Stari grad.

RESTITUTION AND WHAT AFTER

According to the law on restitution, the property of Spasić's endowment gradually began to be returned to her from 2012. However, the first and second floors of the building at Knez Mihailova 33 will never get their turn to enter the restitution procedure. Those two floors are used by "Jugoelektro", because the municipality of Stari grad gave them for use and lease in the early XNUMXs.

In the contract concluded on April 13, 1962 between the Old Town and "Jugoelektro", it is written that the municipality "transfers the right to use the first and second floors" to the company "Jugoelektro", which will pay the municipality "80.000.000 dinars" in three installments. and after the payment of the first installment, the municipality will "hand over to the user the conclusion of the NOO Stari grad", on the basis of which "they will be able to be registered as the authority for the use of the first and second floors". It says, therefore, that "Jugoelektro" is the user of the space. Not the owner.

Nevertheless, "Jugoelektro" tried to sell those two floors in 2005 and then in 2007, even though it is not their owner, both times in order to settle debts. He was thwarted in court.

The final judgment of the First Municipal Court P. 308/05 from 2007 in the lawsuit between the Republic of Serbia and the City Municipality of Stari Grad, whose property was threatened, against "Jugoelektra", established that "the building at Kneza Mihaila Street number 33 is state property of the Republic of Serbia ” and on the basis of that verdict, the right of ownership of the building in question should be “registered in the land register at the competent court or cadastre”. However, that did not happen.

OD "USAGE RIGHTS" TO PRIVATE PROPERTY

On the 33th of June of this year, despite the legally binding Verdict which is binding on all state bodies and third parties, the Republic Geodetic Institute (RGZ) issued a Decision by which the first and second floors at Knez Mihailova 1962 were transferred to the private ownership of the company "Jugoelektro", based on the contract with the municipality of Stari grad from XNUMX. Now, this year, it is registered in the cadastre that it has the right to use and dispose of the first and second floors.

So, although the contract referred to by RGZ says "right of use", it is now registered in the cadastre that Jugoelektro has the two floors in the building of Spasić's endowment. It is about 2.092,46m2 of business space, market value of about 15.000.000 euros.

Due to this Decision of RGZ, the Foundation of Nikola Spasić filed a complaint with the Administrative Court and requested that the final decision of RGZ be annulled. However, the fact that this court process is ongoing cannot save the two floors of Spasić's endowment from being sold to someone. It is worth repeating that in that case those two floors, which are still state property and have not yet been returned to the Endowment through restitution, would become private property. The state is silent.

For the sake of easier insight into this case, let's just say that now, and according to data from the National Bank of Serbia, "Jugoelektro" has been blocked for five years. It has one employee and exists only on paper - under that name it is registered in the Agency for Business Registers, and its owners are UTP Trgovina from Kruševac with a fifty percent share, and Euro KB from Belgrade with another fifty percent. So, "Jugoelektro" has nothing but the name, with the fact that Euro KB has its own owner, and the real owner is UTP from Kruševac. Human Art. Who of all these names is the owner of "Jugoelektra"?

ARROGANT AND RUDE

photo: media center

Vojin Đekić, the manager of the Nikola Spasić Endowment, draws attention to the fact that with the aforementioned Decision of the RGZ from last month, "The endowment is again in the same danger as 18 years ago when 'Jugoelektro' first tried to pay off its debt by selling other people's property, despite the court decision ". The decision was signed by the head of the department, Miloš Bjelanović, on the authority of the director of the RGZ.

"At the time when the municipality concluded the contract with 'Jugoelektra', in 1962, there was no private property of the company, that's why the right of use remained with the municipality, and I'm sure the head and director of RGZ know that," says Vojin. Djekic. "In the Decision signed by Miloš Bjelanović, it is written that he determined everything by reviewing the Contract between 'Jugoelektra' and the municipality, and the Conclusion of the municipality, also from 1962. It is a lie and a falsehood that can be determined by simply reading those two documents. It doesn't say that there. But not only does he do that, not only does he not mention the court ruling according to which the entire building is state property, but he also says that since it is the right of use and disposal, it should be considered that it has become private property. He considers that it is private property, even though there is no document about it. It exists only because it is state property. But, he decides on it even though the cadastre is not competent for it. This is arrogant, and due to the fact that it claims that there is something in the documents that does not exist, and rude."

Is there any possibility that those two floors still belong to "Jugoelektra"? "Only if there is a decision of the Government of RS, because that would be the sale of state property. And there is no evidence that the Republic of Serbia concluded a contract for the purchase and sale of those immovable properties after the finality of Judgment P. 3805/05. This further means that the cadastre made an illegal Decision and transferred the state property to the private property of 'Jugoelektra'", Đekić believes.

Vojin Đekić says that "the fraud started when, after the court verdict, the situation established by the verdict was not entered in the cadastre". "On the ground floor of Knez Mihailova 33, Zadužbina is registered, these are the six bars that were returned to us through restitution, and 'Jugoelektro' is registered on the second floor. If the whole building is state property, where is the state property? It evaporated! It is a scandal for the cadastre, for this country."

"We filed a lawsuit against this Decision, but I'm not sure that right now, as we speak, it hasn't been sold," says Đekić, noting that it's not even worth starting a story about the state's relationship with its endowments, because "Serbia is the endowment of Alajbeg's straw."

They wrote about everything to President Vučić's Cabinet, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, the Property Directorate, the Restitution Agency, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade and the Ministry of Culture, but no one responded.

WITHOUT MENTIONING THE COURT JUDGMENT

Only the Republic Geodetic Institute announced itself, and that to the media, to deny the texts published about the case of the sale of part of Spasić's endowment. In response to the text "Someone wants to buy a part of Spasić's endowment" published on the "Vremena" portal, they criticize the endowment for not informing the public that "the building has several legal owners and even one natural person".

"We are not because it has nothing to do with this subject. It is about an apartment that, probably, the director of 'Jugoelektro' has set aside for himself and the legal entities to whom 'Jugoelektro' leases the space he uses. Has anyone wondered where that company's money from those rents is, that is, how is it that it has been blocked for five years if it rents out two floors in Knez Mihailova street? Where is that money?", asks Vojin Đekić.

RGZ does not mention the court verdict in its response to the editors. He says that the Endowment has not initiated a lawsuit to determine ownership rights or criminal proceedings, which means that RGZ is right.

"There was no need to establish the right of ownership when it was already established, it is known that it is the state's," says Mr. Đekić. They are still considering criminal proceedings. "All this could not have been done without the patronage of state authorities. If they gave us back these two floors and everything else, we could build one or two hospitals within two to three years, in Serbia, so that people can be treated, because that is our mission and Nikola Spasić's testament obliges us to do so."

Let's mention only two details from the list of charities of the Nikola Spasić Foundation: in the last 15 years, it has bought and donated medical equipment and devices worth about 845.000 euros to health institutions, and in the last 28 years, it has been awarding the best students of each year of study and the graduating student of the Faculty of Medicine and Agriculture with a plaque and a cash prize that amounted to 40.000 dinars last year. A total of 305 students were awarded.

From the life of a benefactor

Nikola Spasić (1838–1916) was the only native of Belgrade among the well-known benefactors. His father, an abbot, enrolled him in the Lyceum, but he had to stop his education due to the revolutionary events, so he switched to learning the craft of wax, and then liquorice. However, none of that promised a profit, so young Nikola joined his uncle in the tannery shop, where he learned the blacksmith's trade.

In 1864, with an initial capital of two hundred ducats and a loan of 500 ducats from the brother of his first wife Leposava, Đoka Jovanović, a merchant and former confidant of Captain Miša Anastasijević, Nikola became independent. He opened a tannery shop "Nikola S. Spasić" in Vasina Street. For opankas, there was a wait for their turn. There was no haggling with customers, and the price of each pair of shoes included the value of materials, overhead costs, production value and gross profit. Very soon, the shop was selling several hundred pairs of shoes a day, so the profit was between one hundred and two hundred ducats.

He made Opanke exclusively from leather that he bought in Belgrade, even when other merchants bought it cheaper and better tanned in Hamburg.

Soon he started trading in linen. He bought thousands of riffs of canvas daily (one riff is 77,8 cm). He left early at dawn to the most distant places, but he did not have lunch in taverns, but ate a bun on his knees, claiming that he had no time to waste. As on the opans, he had a penny of profit on each riff of canvas. He did not engage in foreign trade.

He had no children with any of his three wives, and his home was not characterized by great luxury. Many people blamed him for that. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the reputation of a virtuous and wise man whose opinion was accepted and whose advice was sought. He spent the longest time in marriage with his second wife, Stanka – Caja Spasić. With her help, he acquired a huge fortune and built a family house at Knez Mihailova 33. The project for the house was done by the famous Belgrade architect Kosta Jovanović.

In the First Serbian-Turkish War in 1876, Nikola Spasić participated as a regular cavalryman, while in the Second, he made and presented 25.000 pairs of opanaks to the army. In the 19s, when the Serbian government fell into crisis, Spasić bought part of the Serbian foreign debt. This is his first donation to the economic development of Serbia.

Nikola Spasić was the president of the Stock Exchange, the president of Prometna banka and a member of the Board of Directors of Narodna banka. He sold goods only for cash, claiming that cash on delivery should be given either to anyone or to no one.

Nikola Spasić's second donation was a student shelter built in the yard of Palilula elementary school. It was a shelter for poor children whose parents worked from morning to night.

He also gave financial aid that was paid out as a reward to the best students. Spasić sent the first church bell from free Serbia to the south, to Prizren. Later, he donated them to other places, and with considerable sums of money. And as a very pious man, he also gave away church books, crosses and priestly vestments.

Having earned enough, with the motto "you don't have to spend everything you earn today, leave something aside and let it find its way to evil", Nikola Spasić stopped working in the shop at the end of the 19th century and started thinking about the permanent legacy of his property.

He was one of the richest Belgraders, it is believed, solely thanks to his work and savings. In addition to the two-story house at number 33, he demolished the existing one at number 19 in Knez Mihailova and built the first house with a passage in Belgrade, founded the home of the Serbian National Invalids Fund "Sveti Đorđe", bought the estate "Sloga" with the former house of Aleksandar Karađorđević...

Inextricably linking his fate with the fate of the Serbian people, Spasić left his homeland at the end of 1915 and, being very old and sick, retreated via Nis and Thessaloniki to Athens and on to Corfu, where he died. In April 1923, Naka's wife took him to Serbia and buried him in the church at the Topčider cemetery, which he built as his endowment long before the beginning of the Balkan wars.