CINS: Owned by SNS real estate worth 1,9 million euros

In Palić, about 200 meters from the border with Hungary, surrounded by fields, there is a farm with a swimming pool owned by the ruling party in Serbia. It is only one of four locations where the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has properties worth a total of 1,9 million euros, the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) reveals.

In addition to the needs of the party, real estate can serve as a guarantee for a loan, and regardless of whether it was bought with its own money or with citizens' money, the party can also sell it, writes CINS, and reports N1.

Research by CINS shows how the SNS went from being a party without real estate upon coming to power, to becoming the owner of construction facilities and land valued at over 1,9 million euros. In 2014, the ruling party urgently amended the Law on the Financing of Political Activities, which enabled parties to buy real estate with money from the budget. However, although the parties formally report whether they bought the property with public or private money, in practice it is difficult to control, according to CINS interlocutors.

CINS writes that SNS paid a little more than 60.250 euros to the aforementioned Vojvodina farm in July 2019. According to the data of the Republic Geodetic Institute, the objects in question have an area of ​​almost 700 square meters.

Although it is not known what is inside and for what purposes the farm near the Hungarian border is used, at least on two occasions last year, education was held there for participants of the Academy for Young Leaders of the SNS. The lecturer was TV Pink journalist and former wife of President Aleksandar Vučić, Ksenija Vučić, writes CINS and adds that a number of state and party officials paraded through the premises on Palić - from Finance Minister Siniša Malog, through Acting Director of the Post of Serbia, Zoran Đorđević, to the President of Serbia and the progressive Vučić.

CINS previously wrote about the premises in New Belgrade, in the so-called Old Mercator, where the headquarters of the party is located.

Those premises belonged to the company Vetfarm, which went bankrupt, so a consortium of 27 people, mostly from Kruševac, led by the then local SNS councilor Velibor Jovanović, bought them at an auction for around 250 euros. They were donated to SNS in 2017, but as CINS found out, the value of that gift far exceeded the allowed value, which is why the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is investigating the entire case.

However, in August 2019, the progressives bought another office space in Stari Merkator, of 418 square meters. For this, according to the data of the State Audit Institution (DRI), they paid around 369.000 euros. In question are several offices where the company Beolink was located.

The SAI mentioned the purchase in the audit report for 2019, but refused to provide CINS with data from the sales contract. As they said, it is a business secret.

CINS reveals that at the same address, SNS became the owner of another space - of 268 square meters, which was mortgaged to Halk Bank in 2020.

SNS has another property near the Serbian-Romanian border. In Srpska Crnja, a small town in Banat, the ruling party is the owner of a ground-floor shopping center, writes CINS. According to data from the real estate cadastre, the building covers 384 square meters, and the party also owns the field behind the building.

CINS previously wrote that in February 2016, SNS also became the owner of the premises in Kruševac.