UNCOVERED: through SECRET TRANSACTIONS Đilas and Šolak were hiding cash flows and evidence of ownership!

Direct Media was purchased within a complex scheme with the key players hiding behind virtual offshore companies. The idea was to fully conceal the business-political partnership between the United Group president and the Freedom and Justice Party leader.

Yesterday, Kurir unravelled the complex net of companies through which Direct Media came to own the United Group. As we explained, in 2014 the controversial Bulgarian businessman Krasimir Petrov Gergov became merely a sham owner of the company, with money for the purchase coming from a number of offshore companies held by Šolak’s people.

One of them was Dragana Kostić (Jovanović Džaril), who, through related companies, borrowed to Gergov around 9.5 million euros to purchase a stake in Multicom Group. The other transaction went through Wolfram Andreas Kuoni, a lawyer from Switzerland. Through his offshore companies, Kuoni borrowed to Gergov around 8.2 million euros for the same purpose.

The sum of these borrowings equals around 17.7 million euros – the amount paid for Direct Media, as reported by journalists. Still, it remains unclear whether this sum that Đilas got for Direct Media was the entire money he received. Moreover, until this very day the public is kept in the dark about the beneficial owner of companies from the British Virgin Islands, from which money was paid directly to Direct Media. The origin of the money is unknown either.

Questionable change of owner

The persons talking to Kurir say that hiding money flows and evidence of ownership, and tax evasion, are the sole motives why someone would wish to obfuscate a rather simple and legal change of owner, making the public think that the transaction did not take place at all. Director of the Statistical Office Miladin Kovačević notes it is quite unusual that a local company be not sold directly and that, instead, such a complex scheme is woven, through companies registered in tax havens.

– Everyone has the right to sell or buy a company or other goods. It is strange that things are done in the way it was done with Direct Media. The only motive I can discern is to hide that Direct Media was sold in the first place. Two questions can be raised: was the transaction registered as a change in ownership structure and was the capital gains tax charged. Đilas or anyone else can freely claim they have paid taxes, but the only true answer can be given by the tax authorities – explains Kovačević.

Political reasons

Professor at the Belgrade Banking Academy Zoran Grubišić highlights that taxes and regulations are the main reasons for moving operations to offshore zones.

– The procedures are simple there and incorporation costs are low. What is even more important – the level of transparency is low as well. This is how money flows and ownership traces are being hidden – suggests Grubišić..

Research journalist Marko Matić is convinced that Šolak and Đilas stepped into offshore zones to evade taxes and hide money flows and origin.

– Everyone familiar with the logic of corporate operations knows that offshore companies, whose ownership is hidden, are incorporated primarily to evade taxes and disguise money flows and origin. In addition to these motives, Dragan Đilas and Dragan Šolak were hiding their business relations also for other, political reasons. They wanted to conceal that they have created a political-financial octopus. Owing to such structure, they aim to use their current financial clout to gain power. The political power gained in such way would be then put in service of their business interests and their amassing huge profits at the expense of Serbian citizens – observes Matić.

Kurir.rs/ Editorial Staff / Photo: Ana Paunković, Screenshot, Shutterstock