"Privatization investigation could damage ties with Russia"

"Privatization investigation could damage ties with Russia"

Tadić, who served as president at the time of the sale of Serbia's state-run oil monopoly, said on Wednesday the announced investigation "implicitly accuses state leadership of Russia and the Gazprom Neft investor." He suspects that the move amounts to "a media spectacle meant for the domestic audience" launched by the ruling SNS party.

Tadić added he hoped Minister of Internal Affairs Nebojša Stefanović and the Serbian government are "aware that the initiation of such an investigation has much more implications than the usual, media ones produced for the domestic audience."

"The problem is that this, possibly only a media spectacle, can easily become a serious foreign policy problem," said Tadić.

The former president then noted that the investigation would have to include deputies from the SNS and the Socialist (SPS) party who served in the previous convocation of the national assembly, as well as the current president of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić, "because everyone in parliament voted to ratify the agreement with Russia."

Tadić views the decision to form a special team to investigate the privatization of NIS "in two ways": as an opportunity to clarify whether there were irregularities, but also as an opportunity to continue with "yet another in a series of media performances that serve to maintain the constant tension in the society" .

Tadić said that it was difficult to assess what was behind the decision of the authorities, and that it may be an attempt to divert attention from the fact that the Serbian government is how hiring people to head public companies who previously dealt damage to the state, such as Milan Beko, whom he referred to as "the biggest pest of the Serbian economy."

In Moscow, Deputy General Director of Gazprom Neft Vadim Yakovlev told the Interfax news agency that the company was "surprised to learn that an investigation had been launched." The decision, announced by Stefanović, came after the opposition and the Progressives (SNS) engaged for days in a "war of statements," where the opposition demanded to learn the details of investment contracts the current government signed with investors from the United Arab Emirates.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said on Wednesday he "did not believe the investigation will jeopardize our relationship with Russia, while it will show what happened in this particular case."

"I'm not saying that there is criminal responsibility and I do not jump, swear and insult anyone as some others do, saying something, without knowing anything, and when I see the panic they're in, explaining all over the place that something is good without believing it themselves - I absolutely have no problem with that," Vučić said.

He added he "did not believe that state leaders took money" but that it was "not his job to talk about it."

"Competent organs will show everything that needs to be shown," Vučić said and reiterated that the investigation "will not disrupt relations with the Russian Federation."

The government, he said, is conducting its domestic and foreign policy "according to the Constitution, in the interests of citizens," andstated that Serbia "is the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation."

"It seems to me that speaks about our respect," said Vučić, adding that he discussed the issue with Russian officials.

"We talked about some things and we'll continue the talks. Am I happy because someone made a profit of USD 500 million in six months from our oil and gas, and in the end the total profit is 400 and something million and in the end we get a dividend of 29 million, and that from what was invested in the region we did not see much?," he was quoted as asking, and adding that it would be "excellent" if the sale contract could be "revised."

Boris Tadić previously pointed out that the sale of NIS was a condition for the conclusion of an energy agreement with Russia and said it was the best possible deal, without which the South Stream pipeline would bypass Serbia.

"If NIS was not sold, it would probably not exist today, and the damage we would have had just from the loss of jobs would surpass the damage that we have from those parts of the contract that are not most favorable for Serbia," Tadić said.

According to him, if the Serbian government thinks the agreement is not good, "they can always try to negotiate with the Russian side on a revision of the contract."

"The effects of this agreement can be discussed now only at the level of speculation, the real effects will be visible in ten years' time and every expert on energy policy knows it," said the former president.

Claims about the harmfulness of the contract were rejected also by high-rankingofficial of the now opposition DS party Borislav Stefanović, who at the time headed a working group for negotiations on NIS. On Tuesday, he told the Beta news agency that the claims represented a "deception" staged by the SNS meant to "divert attention from the secret contracts signed by the current government."

NIS was sold on the basis of the energy agreement between Serbia and Russia, reached in early 2008 by then President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, and their Russian counterparts Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.

It was agreed that Gazprom would buy 51 percent of NIS for EUR 400 million and invest at least EUR 500 million by 2012. All conditions were met within the stipulated deadlines.

Grasprom Neft owns a 56.15 percent stake in NIS, the state of Serbia has 29.87 percent, while the remaining stock is held by small shareholders. NIS is today the most successful company in Serbia.