Vučić presents agreement with Al Rawafed

Vučić presents agreement with Al Rawafed

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, he first showed earlier sale contracts for the companies Bačka Sivac, Jadran, Agrobačka and Mladi Borac.

The government from 2006 sold Bačka Sivac for EUR 14 million to Mile Jerković, who has been mentioned in the trial against the drug lord Darko Šarić, Vučić said.

According to the contract, signed in 2006, Serbia sold Jerković 4,700 ha of land for EUR 14 million, where he had to pay the sum in 6 equal installments and invest another EUR 131,000.

However, his only investment was to buy a tractor from himself, that his from his daughter's company, Vučić explained.

An inspection in 2009 determined that the sale contract had been breached and that only two installments of EUR 4 million in total had been paid, the prime minister said.

In the meantime, Jerković took out EUR 2.4 million in loans in Bačka Sivac's name, even though he had no right to do so.

"A total of EUR 4.4 million in interest-free loans have never been returned," Vučić stated, adding that Jerković had also failed to pay taxes.

The joint venture company established with Al Rawafed will have around 10,000 ha at its disposal and will do nothing without government approval, he noted.

The new company will buy land from Jadran for the price of EUR 10,000 per hectare and from Bačka Sivac for EUR 7,000, he remarked, adding that 4,000 ha would be leased for EUR 250 per hectare and that the profit would be EUR 450 per hectare, or three times more than presently.

The Defence Ministry has the right to 20 percent of 3,350 ha of land, since that land was usurped and has not been of any use until now, he said.

Al Rawafed has also agreed in the document to take over 80 percent of the employees of the two companies, hire another 20 people with academic education and invest EUR 140.5 million, Vučić pointed out.

Serbia received a previously agreed USD 1 billion loan from the UAE on Thursday, so it will not face any liquidity issues until March, he announced.

The prime minister presented also the strategic partnership agreements with Etihad regarding Air Serbia, formerly Jat Airways, and said that all the agreements presented on Thursday could be found on the government website.