The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said at the meeting of the Main Committee of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) that it is time for the party to "say hello" to some members and to those to whom "everything was given", who, as he says, work behind his back and "become biggest enemies, because you don't give them everything they want".
Forbes Serbia previously singled out 11 of those who earned the most from close ties to the current government.
"It's time for us to open our tickets nicely. From March to June, with that reconstruction, to thank all those who explain on television - yes, we respect President Vučić, because they know that's how they get votes, and they call all our opponents behind our backs to tell them - well, you know that it's not us, that's what Vučić did, that's what Vučić ordered and so on. Don't touch us, don't attack us, but by him," said Vučić and told the SNS officials present to some of them do.
According to N1, he previously stated that they have become the greatest enemies of those who have been given everything.
"You to whom we gave everything, you to whom we did everything. 10 times you give him everything, and the 11th time you don't give him, because it is impossible to give him everything he wants 11 times and he has become your greatest enemy, because he deserves it all , because it belongs to him. For us, they are ordinary people, an ordinary world, to whom we did not give anything, except that we gave them the opportunity to live from their work, to be able to live in a better Serbia, to have better roads, better schools, better hospitals, better clinical centers than they had before, those you have to devote yourself to," said Vučić, telling the party officials that they should be talked to.
"New Serbian elite - connection with the current authorities"
Forbes previously compiled a list of 11 of them who owe the largest part of their income to strong ties with the current authorities and thanks to the jobs they get from the state and its companies because of those ties. They are the "new Serbian elite" who own at least 140 companies registered in Serbia and abroad, they say.
One of them is the owner of the Belgrade company "Koefik" Nenad Kovač, better known as Neša Roming.
As stated, this businessman became known to the public after learning that he was behind the company that was part of the consortium to which the City of Belgrade in 2010 entrusted the business of collecting tickets for public city transport, better known as the Bus plus system. In addition, together with Nikola Petrović, the former director of the public company Elektromreža Srbije, Nenad Kovač had co-ownership in companies that were engaged in the construction of mini-hydroelectric plants. Nikola Petrović is, among other things, Vučić's godfather and part of the "new Serbian elite" list.
The list of Kovač's associates includes the president of the company Energotehnika Južna Bačka Dragoljub Zbiljić, who is also on the Forbes list of businessmen who have prospered because of their ties to the authorities.
As written in the text, Zbiljić is the owner of the limited liability company Maneks doo, which trades in non-ferrous metals, and is known to the public as a guarantor for the loan that the then opposition SNS took from Univerzal Bank for the purposes of the 2012 election campaign. He claims that he does not have a membership card of the ruling SNS, but that he is "a sincere admirer of what Aleksandar Vučić is doing."
Nikola Petrović, Vučić's godfather, is the former general director of the public company Elektromreža Srbije and the owner of the company EL&MI Group, registered for the production of electricity, and has shares in several other companies known for the construction of mini-hydroelectric plants, some of which were created at the end of 2021, i.e. in 2022. Nikola Petrović likes to say for himself, writes Forbes, that he is "not a politician and an official of the ruling party", but he is in godfather and friendly relations with the current president of Serbia. In 2015, he found himself at the center of an affair with the wind farm development company Kontinental Wind, whose the director at that time was Ana Brnabić, today's president of the Serbian Parliament.
Forbes included the owners of the Milenijum team, Ivan Bošnjak and Stojan Vujek, in the list. In previous years, as stated in the text, the Millennium Team company participated in the construction of a large number of infrastructure and state projects, from Belgrade on the water, gasification in cities throughout Serbia carried out by the public company Srbijagas, the construction of apartments for the army and the police, and participates in construction of facilities for the needs of EXPO 2027.
Also, writes Forbes, the Millennium team was chosen as a subcontractor for several road routes being built in Serbia, which are being worked on by one of the Chinese state-owned companies as the main contractor.
The list also includes Ostoja Mijalović, the owner of OMR Group, within which at least 15 domestic legal entities operate, according to this media. He is a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and was a candidate for deputy on the SNS list "Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia wins" in the 2016 parliamentary elections.
Next on the list of "SNS businessmen" is Zvonko Veselinović, who also has connections with Milan Radoičić, a controversial businessman from the north of Kosovo who is the organizer of the attack in Banjska. In the north of Kosovo, Zvonko Veselinović is known as one of the "leaders of the bridge guards", i.e. key people both in the local political and economic-criminal milieu. By the way, he was arrested on two occasions, but was later acquitted of responsibility in both cases, writes Forbes.
There is also the owner of the Alta pay group, Davor Macura, as well as the owner of Termomont, Dejan Burčula. As Forbes writes, if anyone can brag about the projects he worked on for the state, it is Burčula. According to this media, he was assigned the construction of covid hospitals in Batajnica, Novi Sad and Kruševac, and then the construction of a vaccine factory. Burčula, on the other hand, became known to the public when the President of Serbia posted on his Instagram account in 2020 a cake in the shape of a covid hospital, which was sent to him by Termomont, according to the text.
By the way, writes Forbes, according to the Toplica Center for Democracy's research on the largest public procurements in Serbia during 2020, five of them were awarded to this company, and their value was slightly more than 70 million euros.
Dejan Slijepčević, the owner of the Novi Sad company Gat d.o.o., found himself unauthorized last summer in the Command and Operations Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia together with the then Minister of Police and the current Minister of Defense, Bratislav Gašić and Vučić. In addition, Forbes writes, Slijepčević was arrested in Republika Srpska and Montenegro for trying to bring in larger sums of money than the legal limits, and it was suspected that this money was used to bribe some voters. Gat doo is also the main builder of the "Dubočica" stadium, which was opened in Leskovac.
The list also includes Željko Drčelić, whose company WD Concord west has connections with the following projects - Sports Center Radnički in Belgrade, then Science and Technology Park Niš, almost 14.000 square meters of the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Dedinje 2, developing parts of the Clinical and Hospital Center Zemun, the city swimming pool in Uba, the stadium in Zaječar, the Gostun border crossing, part of the Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport, the Konstatnin Veliki airport building in Niš... The company also received various other tenders related to various state institutions. Željko Drčelić is also the president of the Board of Directors of the Crvena Zvezda basketball club.
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