Tycoon's Book Revelations Spark Scandal in Serbia

Serbia's richest man, Miroslav Miskovic, claims in his forthcoming memoir 'I, Tycoon' that Tomislav Nikolic, who at the time was the country's president and leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, called him to say that he wouldn't be arrested, Nedeljnik weekly newspaper reported on Thursday.

"You can't be arrested. There is no reason," Nikolic allegedly told Miskovic just days before the tycoon's arrest in December 2012, according to an excerpt from the book published by Nedeljnik ahead of its official release on Friday.

Nikolic has not responded to the claims made about him in the book so far.

According to the report, Miskovic claimed that he had good relations with Nikolic until he was marginalised by Aleksandar Vucic, who replaced him as Serbia's president and Progressive Party leader. 

"I will never forgive him [Nikolic] for allowing them to illegally arrest me, because he knew, he had to know, that they were only arresting me because of political issues... He only showed that he is scared of Vucic," the extract from Miskovic's book said. 

Miskovic was arrested on December 2012 and charged with illegally earning over 30 million euros from privatised road companies as well as tax evasion.

He was arrested after the Progressive Party came to power following a general election in May 2012.

Nikolic, who led the party to the election win, stepped down from the helm of the party to take over the Serbian presidency, leaving the party to Vucic, one of whose main promises was to fight corruption.

But in September 2017, the Appeals Court freed Miroslav Miskovic, dropped the charges and annulled a first-instance sentence of five years in jail for allegedly aiding his son, Marko, in tax...