Businessman confirms he owns newspaper

Serbian businessman Milan Beko told B92 on Sunday in an interview that he is the owner of Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti. At the same time, he denied that the company was bought with the money borrowed from Stanko Subotic, aka Cane, who is indicted in Serbia for cigarette smuggling. Businessman confirms he owns newspaper Beko also rejected accusations that the privatization of both the newspaper and the Port of Belgrade company happened thanks to the support he had from some state officials. Beko said he entered the Vecernje Novosti sale after Germany's WAZ media group sought a domestic partner due to its previous bad experiences in Serbia. But, the newspaper was never given over to WAZ, although Beko admits his companies received EUR 24mn for that acquisition. Beko also explained that turning over the ownership of Vecernje Novosti to WAZ was not in the contract. "The contract said that they would become a qualified buyer of Novosti only if they received agreement from the Anti-Monopoly Commission. In another contract, which is no longer valid, and which was the first to regulate our relations, it said "not until elections" - precisely because (then PM) Kostunica was not in favor of that privatization... Kostunica was certainly not someone I wanted to get angry," said Beko. Beko explicitly confirmed that he was the owner of Vecernje Novosti, adding also that this was "not an issue from the very beginning". Asked whether Delta Holding owner Miroslav Miskovic was also involved in the deal, Beko said there was "economic agreement" between them, but that it did not include borrowing money from Subotic. WAZ, said he, introduced Subotic as their partner in various business arrangements during the Novosti acquisition talks. Beko also rejected Subotic's accusations that he and Miskovic launched a campaign against his return to Serbia. In the same interview, Beko called on Serbian President Boris Tadic to explain exactly what he had meant by asking the country's tycoons to give some of their wealth back, adding that the business community saw this as a warning and even as an announcement that the government could be planning to collect an extra profit tax from the rich. "Unfortunately, this initiative by Tadic is vague, so we were hoping to see a concrete example of it demonstrated by the Democratic Party's well-to-do to see how it's supposed to look like, how much we need to give and to whom, to rule out any demagogy," Beko told B92. If the initiative has its roots in Russia, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's gesture of handing a pen to Oleg Deripaska to sign orders to to pay his workers, then we must bear in mind that Putin saved Deripaska's life in an economic sense, by sending the message that Russia is for Russians only, Beko added. "Perhaps Tadic's was inspired by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's model, when he said that he expected returns for the state, and when this didn't happen, he began nationalizing," Beko said. Milan Beko (FoNet, file)

Businessman confirms he owns newspaper

Beko also rejected accusations that the privatization of both the newspaper and the Port of Belgrade company happened thanks to the support he had from some state officials.

Beko said he entered the Večernje Novosti sale after Germany's WAZ media group sought a domestic partner due to its previous bad experiences in Serbia.

But, the newspaper was never given over to WAZ, although Beko admits his companies received EUR 24mn for that acquisition.

Beko also explained that turning over the ownership of Večernje Novosti to WAZ was not in the contract.

"The contract said that they would become a qualified buyer of Novosti only if they received agreement from the Anti-Monopoly Commission. In another contract, which is no longer valid, and which was the first to regulate our relations, it said "not until elections" - precisely because (then PM) Koštunica was not in favor of that privatization... Koštunica was certainly not someone I wanted to get angry," said Beko.

Beko explicitly confirmed that he was the owner of Večernje Novosti, adding also that this was "not an issue from the very beginning".

Asked whether Delta Holding owner Miroslav Miškovič was also involved in the deal, Beko said there was "economic agreement" between them, but that it did not include borrowing money from Subotić.

WAZ, said he, introduced Subotić as their partner in various business arrangements during the Novosti acquisition talks.

Beko also rejected Subotić's accusations that he and Mišković launched a campaign against his return to Serbia.

In the same interview, Beko called on Serbian President Boris Tadić to explain exactly what he had meant by asking the country's tycoons to give some of their wealth back, adding that the business community saw this as a warning and even as an announcement that the government could be planning to collect an extra profit tax from the rich.

"Unfortunately, this initiative by Tadić is vague, so we were hoping to see a concrete example of it demonstrated by the Democratic Party's well-to-do to see how it's supposed to look like, how much we need to give and to whom, to rule out any demagogy," Beko told B92.

If the initiative has its roots in Russia, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's gesture of handing a pen to Oleg Deripaska to sign orders to to pay his workers, then we must bear in mind that Putin saved Deripaska's life in an economic sense, by sending the message that Russia is for Russians only, Beko added.

"Perhaps Tadić's was inspired by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's model, when he said that he expected returns for the state, and when this didn't happen, he began nationalizing," Beko said.