In a special series, Kurir reveals how exactly this controversial billionaire fulfilled his 'American dream' in the murky waters of the Balkan transition
Although both publicly deny their business ties, irrefutable evidence has emerged that Dragan Šolak and Dragan Đilas have conducted business together on no fewer than three occasions. Furthermore, there are indications that they have been actively collaborating on a number of other projects.
When it was revealed in October 2018 that Dragan Šolak and Dragan Đilas co-owned a company in Malta, the two attempted to deny this in a rather inept fashion.
The denial that confirmed the truth
"The truth of the matter is that Đilas and myself have never done business together, nor do we do so now," Šolak said in his written statement, adding that United Group "bought Direct Media, a company that Đilas had sold in 2014, in a transparent process reviewed by all the relevant authorities in 2018." He confirmed at the time that the Direct Media building had been purchased by United Media for EUR 4 million.
At the same time, Šolak confirmed that he co-owned a company in Malta with Đilas's highly trusted associate Jadranka Dinić, insisting that the company "hadn't engaged in a single euro's worth of trading. Šolak thus made a nonsensical statement, claiming that purchasing Đilas's company and building, as well as setting up a co-owned company in Malta, constitutes convincing proof that they do not have any business ties!
Dragan Đilas tried to deny their ties as well. In an interview with the Blic daily, he said that "he had only seen Dragan Šolak twice in his life." At the same time, in a bid to deny the fact that the two co-owned a company in Malta, Đilas said: "A company in Malta? Are you serious? I spent one day there once because of basketball, when FIBA had their conference there."
The Maltese traces of a long-concealed collaboration
While Šolak clumsily denied ever doing business with Đilas, insisting that he had "only" purchased a building and a company from him, and that setting up a company with one of his managers was just a formality, Đilas made equally clumsy excuses, claiming that he had met Šolak only twice in his life by accident, and that he had been in Malta once, but for a different purpose. However, the facts suggest the truth is very different.
In light of the confirmed fact that Šolak and Dragan Đilas's long-time associate Jadranka Dinić co-own a company in Malta, which was behind the takeover of the television channels Pink M and Pink BH, the story of Šolak's purchase of Đilas's former company Direct Media was not overly convincing either. However, before buying Đilas's business, Šolak had also purchased a building owned by the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party for a little over four million euros.
Purchasing the Multikom building
Before he bought Đilas's company, Šolak purchased a building located in Antifašističke Borbe Street in the Novi Beograd Municipality from the company called Multikom. According to the information published by the Belgrade media, this building – with a total surface area of 1,528 square meters – was sold by Multikom on 31 October 2017 to Techhill Plaza DOO. The latter company was founded in 2012 and was registered at the same address as SBB (19 Bulevar Peka Dapčevića Street).
At the same time, 8A Bulevar Zorana Đinđića Street – the address at which Šolak's United Media was registered – was listed as the correspondence address. The building was officially sold for EUR 4.5 million, and real estate experts have pointed out that its sales price was above its market price. The media linked this transaction to financing Đilas's campaign for the Belgrade election, held in March 2018.
In addition to the evident business ties between Šolak and Đilas, the political moves of the former Belgrade mayor, which are always geared towards protecting the business interests of SBB and other Šolak's companies, also testify to the links between them. Đilas and his political satellites have had a prominent role in the campaign against Telekom Srbija, while TV N1 regularly supports the views and actions of Đilas's political group in their partisan reporting.
The business ties between the two tycoons were perhaps best confirmed by the demands of the One Out of Five Million protesters, which carry no political weight or significance. Their top demand was changing the makeup of the REM, with which Šolak's SBB has been in a state of permanent conflict due to their constant breaches of regulations.