Dragan Šolak, owner of United Group and currently the richest Serb, has built a media empire in Serbia which is very anti-Russian in terms of the content offered by his flagship TV channels and web portals. However, Šolak has devised a mechanism which allows him to own N1, which is a franchise of the American CNN, but also, according to the revelations of the Slovenian media, to develop his business behind the scenes with an influential man in the Russian circles – Wolfram Kuoni.
This new information on Šolak’s business has actually shed light on an entirely new system that he has patented: he is a player who collaborates with the USA on the one hand, while establishing very good business ties with the Russians, on the other. The main motivation for this double game, as has always been the case with Dragan Šolak, which Kurir has reported on on a number of occasions, is to increase his personal wealth.
Russian connection at the heart of Europe
On pozareport.si, Slovenian investigative journalist Bojan Požar published who is Šolak’s “Russian connection at the heart of Europe.”
“It is the famous Swiss ‘attorney for the entrepreneur’ Wolfram Kuoni, who even made a bid in 2015 to become an MP in the Swiss parliament, but failed – despite huge financial injections (Šolak’s, the Russian’s – it’s anybody’s guess) for his election campaign. Kuoni was actually the vice-president of the Swiss-Russian Gazprombank and served as the chairman of Šolak’s United Media board until May 2022, i.e. for several months after the Russian attack against Ukraine. In February 2022, the Swiss media outlets reported, among other things, that "Kuoni’s law practice from Zurich lives off of rich Russians", and Kuoni himself has had one of the biggest roles in expanding Šolak’s media empire since 2010. He too – attorney-at-law Kuoni – can be found alongside Šolak and the Slovenian Tomaž Jeločnik in the infamous Malta Files and the Pandora Papers,” Požar says in his piece on Šolak.
Požar also explains that Šolak and Kuoni had ties through Šolak’s one-time business in Serbia and Bulgaria, which was directly linked to the Bulgarian tycoon Krassimir Guergov, a former member of the Bulgarian intelligence services, and Dragan Đilas, who co-founded Direct Media years ago.
“But where there are Russians, there are Serbs too, they say. The Swiss media report that Kuoni’s wife Maria is originally from Serbia and works as a banker and promoter. Furthermore, Maria Kuoni is mentioned in the Pandora Papers as well, and her work ‘focuses especially on Russia.’ Two of her best-known Serbian-Russian projects are ‘The Serbian-Russian Medallions’ and ‘Click for Serbia’, in which Maria Kuoni works with the SBB non-governmental foundation, which is actually controlled by Dragan Šolak, and The Russian Cultural Centre non-governmental organization,” writes Slovenian investigative journalist Bojan Požar, who is well-known for his investigative pieces on corruption, after which several Slovenian government ministers resigned.
Influence peddling
For years, there have been lingering suspicions regarding United Group owner Dragan Šolak’s influence peddling at key institutions and competitor companies which paved the way for him to keep amassing his wealth. In relation to money, we must not overlook the diplomatic cables from Belgrade, released by Wikileaks, which are concerned with a watershed moment in Šolak’s rise in business. Back in 2002, the fund co-owned by billionaire George Soros invested USD 10 million in SBB in two phases. Why did Soros do that?
These funds were intended to allow further development of the company and the acquisitions, i.e. buying the competitors in order to gain a considerable market share. In early May 2002, the ownership of KDS (one of the many cable operators in Serbia at the time) was transferred to Gerrard Enterprises, a company which transferred its ownership share late during the same month to Serbia BroadBand S.a.r.l, headquartered in Luxembourg. Soon after, a market expansion ensued, and multiple local cable operators from Belgrade, Niš, and Novi Sad were acquired by KDS. Following this, the name of the company was changed in March 2003 to Serbia Broadband - Srpske kablovske mreže (SBB).
In addition, the activities of United Group as one of the biggest media companies in southeast Europe is slowly starting to be brought out into the light. United Group and its founder have long since been using the SBB cable network to promote a pro-opposition programming – 24 hours a day, on the N1 TV channel. For those who do not know, the N1 TV channel is a CNN franchise.
Now we reach the central part of this story, which is the question from the beginning – has Šolak been going behind the backs of Soros and the Americans? How? By – as will be demonstrated – collaborating with the Russians all the while. “The Russian connection”, which the Americans are assumed not to have known about, is Wolfram Kuoni, the former president of United Media Network AG – a company that is part of the media arm of United Group – who currently serves as an advisor to high-profile clients from Russia.
Personal interest and increase of wealth
It should not be forgotten that Kuoni paid app. EUR 8.2 million to Stichting Administratiekantoor CEE Media to purchase a share in Multikom via Kuoni Rechtsanwalte, one of his 13 companies registered in Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. What is especially jarring is that it is him that sits on the BoD of United Media Network AG from Switzerland.
It is indicative that the two loans (one of app. EUR 9.5 million, and another of app. EUR 8.2 million) add up to app. EUR 17.7 million, the sum of money for which Direct Media was bought. On top of all this, Kuoni used to be the deputy chairman of the Gazprombank AG BoD in Switzerland. He kept that position until the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is when he resigned. To make things more interesting, Gazprombank AG holds the funds of high-ranking Kremlin officials. The list of its clients includes Sergei Roldugin (Vladimir Putin’s close friend and godfather to his daughter), Sergey Lavrov, The Russian Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as Vladimir Putin himself.
As regards Kuoni, he continues to be at the service of Dragan Šolak, having also stayed on as the president of United Media in Switzerland for months after the start of the war in Ukraine. The bottom line is – it is clear that Šolak is a player that collaborates with the USA while at the same time he has very good ties with the Russians. In that game, as we have explained, what is most important to him is his personal interest and increasing his personal wealth. What is left at the end is the question whether the Americans knew that Dragan Šolak had been going behind their backs by collaborating with the Russians to pursue his own interest.
Kurir.rs
