SHADY BUSINESS: We expose the transactions proving that Đilas and Šolak have business ties.
The sale of Đilas’s Direct Media and the Multikom building to the United Group shows that the political and business alliance of Dragan Đilas and Dragan Šolak is beyond doubt and standing at tens of millions of euros.
The end owner of the companies based in the British Virgin Islands, from which funds were paid to Direct Media, as well as the origin of the funds, remain unknown to the general public.
The business collaboration between the chairman of the United Group Dragan Šolak and the president of the Party of Freedom and Justice Dragan Đilas is a closely guarded secret because this duo has developed an entire scheme of financial machinations allowing them to make millions for years.
Kurir uncovers new details of their business and exposes the hidden operations of Šolak and Đilas, demonstrating that their political and business alliance is beyond doubt, as well as that it is worth tens of millions of euros.
Šolak and Đilas tried to put pressure on Kurir every which way with the intention of preventing us from publishing that the two of them have business ties. Despite the especially intense attacks of the media wing of their business lobby, Kurir will continue to expose the business schemes of Šolak and Đilas, pledging to continue investigating all their shady business ventures with even more audacity.
The sale of Direct Media, a company once owned by Đilas, which ended up in the hands of Šolak’s United Media after some incredible paperwork stunts, can serve as an illustrative example of how these two businessmen increase their wealth. Once the intentionally complicated mechanism of sales and purchases is taken apart and the fake screws removed, a clear picture emerges of Šolak purchasing Direct Media from Đilas’s Multikom Group back in 2014.
The Bulgarian frontThe controversial Bulgarian businessman Kresimir Gergov was used as a front for this purchase as a formal buyer of Direct Media. In actuality, the company was already in the hands of Šolak and his main operative Dragana Kostić (Dragana Jovanović Džaril). Her ties to Šolak are evident at the Diplomatic Golf Club, where she worked as a legal representative alongside Gordana Šolak, the wife of the above businessman. Further, Dragana Kostić sits on the managerial board of Golf Club Belgrade, which has Dragan Šolak as the legal representative and Šolak’s wife as the secretary.
The role of Dragana Kostić in the purchase of Direct Media is essential. As a member of the Sierra Investment Group, based in the British Virgin Islands, she lent around 9.5 million euros to the company Stichting Administratiekantoor CEE Media, where Gergov served as the CEO, for the purposes of purchasing a share in Multikom Group. What is interesting is that that amount was transferred to the Multikom account on the same day.
One Wolfram Andreas Kuoni, a lawyer from Switzerland, did the same thing through Kuoni Rechtsanwälte AG, one of his 13 companies registered in Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. He paid around 8.2 million euros into the account of Stichting Administratiekantoor CEE Media for the purposes of purchasing a share in Multikom. The fact that he is on the managerial board of United Media Network AG from Switzerland demonstrates that Kuoni is indubitably Šolak’s henchperson, as is Dragana Kostić.
It is quite telling that the two loans above (one in the amount of around 9.5 million, and the other in the amount of around 8.2 million euros) match the sum of around 17.7 million euros used to purchase Direct Media, as the Serbian media report. The persistent hiding of the actual buyers and sellers poses many questions. One such question would be, is the amount that Đilas received for Direct Media the entire sum that he had obtained; another question could be, what is the actual value of the company at the time of the sale.
Hiding offshore
In July 2015, Gergov transferred the ownership in Direct Media free of charge to the company Ascanius Netherlands B.V, whose owners were hidden behind eight companies registered at multiple offshore locations: The Netherlands, Luxembourg, The British Virgin Islands, Samoa, and Hong Kong. The last in the succession of companies was Hoche Partners Private Equity Investors Sarl from Luxembourg, which was re-registered in early 2014 to the British Virgin Islands. Incidentally, it is interesting that the end owner of the companies from the British Virgin Islands, from which the money was paid to Direct Media, as well as the origin of the money, remain unknown to the general public.
The lawyer Wolfram Andreas Kuoni was a key player in another secret financial transaction between Šolak and Đilas. It was the purchase of the building owned by Đilas’s Multikom Group. Šolak became the owner of the building located on Antifašističke Borbe Street on 31 October 2017 – therefore, before he officially purchased Direct Media. It cost him around 4.5 million euros, and the purchase was carried out via Deutsche Bank. The formal buyer was the company Techill Plaza, associated with DanSav Investments from Switzerland, which has the lawyer Kuoni in its management. Techill Plaza DOO was founded in 2012 and registered at the same address as the company SBB (19 Bulevar Peka Dapčevića in Belgrade).
Although Đilas keeps publicly denying that he sold the building to Šolak and that the two of them have business ties, Kurir’s investigation has revealed that that was a lie. When purposefully complicated transactions between these two are brought to light in this way, it becomes clear that the aim is non-transparent business practices.
The Kurir Editorial Staff