HOW ŠOLAK BECAME THE RICHEST SERB: A managerial post for EBRD director he got millions from (21)
In a special series, Kurir reveals how exactly this controversial billionaire fulfilled his 'American dream' in the murky waters of the Balkan transition
The business and political lobby of the owner of United Group, Dragan Šolak, endeavoured in good time to hide its shady business from the general public, as well as to secure the protection of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the purposes of expanding its lawless operation in the Western Balkans.
Šolak secured this financial institution's long-term support for his companies by involving the bank in his business through official partnership, as well as by means of hidden ties, through some EBRD managers.
Breaching EBRD principles and goals
As Kurir has discovered earlier, at a point when Šolak got his first millions from the EBRD, Dragica Pilipović Chaffey held a high-ranking managerial post at the bank. Once the bank entered into an official partnership with Šolak, Chaffey moved to his company, where she now has the post of United Group's Vice-President for Corporate Affairs.
Unlike the second instance of personal ties, involving Dragan Đilas's ex-wife Milica Delević, Pilipović Chaffey's career went the opposite way – from a managerial position at the EBRD straight to the top management at United Group. This fact has raised legitimate concerns regarding a possible conflict of interests, as the EBRD provided its services to United Group as a client. In the business world, such transfers come under special scrutiny in order to eliminate all suspicion of corruption, influence peddling, and conflict of interests. This is all the more true for an institution like the EBRD, which differs from commercial banks in that it operates on the principle of membership and in line with a set business mission. Serbia is one of the 69 EBRD shareholders, which also include the EU and the European Investment Bank.
What is most scandalous about this case is the fact that this international financial institution turned a blind eye to a potential conflict of interests, allowing Dragica Pilipović Chaffey to join the top management of a company that was – and still is – an EBRD client straight from a managerial post at the bank.
Unlawful influence on the bank's actions
Unlike Delević, Dragica Pilipović Chaffey was with the EBRD since its founding in 1991. She held high-ranking posts at the bank, including Head of the Russia Team and, from 2003, Head of the Serbia and Montenegro Team. It was around this time, in 2004, that the EBRD first invested a sum of EUR 18.5 million in Šolak's SBB, an operator which is part of United Group. Moreover, the bank also invested in SBB's capital stock, becoming in this way the company's minority owner, with a million shares in its hands. This financial injection was crucial, enabling Šolak to start expanding his business in the region by purchasing an additional 25 local providers, introducing new services, and offering broadband internet.
Pilipović Chaffey left the EBRD in 2008 and moved straight into the top management of SBB, a company that had become a strong regional player owing to the financial support of the EBRD. Since then, she has had key roles on the United Group team – previously as SBB CEO and currently as Chairwoman of the Board of the SBB Foundation and, since 2015, Vice-President for Corporate Affairs at United Group.
The case of Dragica Pilipović Chaffey has raised serious concerns regarding the EBRD management's possible heavy involvement in corruption, with this international bank's business decision being made under the sway of corruptive structures and interests linked to the bank's management. It was precisely for this reason that the EBRD had to explain how it was possible that this institution had taken the decision to invest considerable funds in what was in many ways a lawless business operation of Šolak's at a time when Chaffey was a manager there, and that then Chaffey moved to a well-paid position at Šolak's company.
Furthermore, the EBRD would have to provide an answer to the question of how it is possible for this international bank to keep supporting the business operation of United Group, a company that is in breach of the laws on market competition and has a hidden ultimate ownership structure in tax havens. Such things are incompatible with the sort of business and the goals for which the EBRD was founded. This case brings great discredit upon the work of this highly influential and until now reputable international financial institution.
The case of Milica Delević, former co-owner of Multikom Group
In addition to Chaffey, Kurir has discovered Dragan Šolak and Dragan Đilas's companies' ties to yet another EBRD director – Milica Delević, Đilas's ex-wife. Before joining the EBRD in 2013, Delević sold her 25-percent stake in Multikom Group, which owned Direct Media. The EBRD then practically became a co-owner of her former company, as United Group, which this bank has a minority ownership stake in, purchased Direct Media. Our investigations have revealed that the sale of Direct Media was completed in a distinctly non-transparent manner, using a complex network of companies founded in tax havens with the aim of concealing the actual owners. Nonetheless, this scheme has been largely debunked, with evidence emerging of Đilas and Šolak's direct business ties in this transaction.
Kurir's investigations have also revealed that, despite their non-transparent and suspect business activities, Šolak and United Group have had the support of the EBRD all these years. When the links of individuals from the EBRD and the business moves of Đilas and Šolak are analysed, it can be reliably concluded that it was owing to these links that their business was expanding and their wealth increasing enormously. Nowadays, this bank, headquartered in London, uses its reputation and credibility to protect the interests of United Group, and its minority stake in this company to provide Šolak's group with a basis for building a fake image of an uncontroversial and credible company.
Despite the EBRD management's and Chaffey's own controversial and suspicious behaviour in this case, she has for years remained silent on the transfer, refusing to answer media questions, as has the EBRD, to which Kurir has sent questions on multiple occasions.
The EBRD has not answered Kurir's questions about whether it has looked into a potential conflict of interests in this case, as well as whether SBB was a client of theirs in a project in which their former director was involved on behalf of the EBRD.
Dragica Pilipović Chaffey has not answered the questions relating to her role in the 2004 business deal, when the EBRD made its first investment in SBB, as well as whether SBB was a client in a project in which she was involved while at the EBRD.
COMING UP NEXT: The grand finale – United Group owner's first billion
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