Serbia Arrests Business Associate of Opposition Politician

Police on Wednesday arrested Jovan Stojanovic, the director of Direct Media, a company formerly owned by opposition leader Dragan Djilas, and two employees of Serbian public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia, RTS on suspicion of defrauding the state of more than five million euros.

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told a press conference that the men who were arrested committed the fraud between 2009 and 2018 by allegedly signing contracts and annexes that caused RTS to give a big discount to Direct Media while the company did not fulfil the conditions required to receive the discount.

"Based on all that, Direct Media realised a benefit of more than 248 million dinars [about 2 million euros] and cost RTS more than 688 million dinars [5.8 million euros]," Stefanovic said.

Djilas, a former mayor of Belgrade who is now head of the opposition Liberty and Justice political party, denied any wrongdoing and accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of ordering the arrests.

"They [the arrests] happened because Vucic, who thinks he owns life and death… decided this. Well, I say to him - no. They will get out [from prison] and whether you [Vucic] will end up there will be decided by people who will do their job without political influence," Djilas told a press conference on Wednesday.

He also called on the authorities to arrest him and check "every dinar I have".

Belgrade-based advertising company Direct Media is a private company formerly owned by Djilas, which was part of his media business empire, together with its six subsidiaries in several countries in the Balkan region.

Direct Media, which sold advertising space in various electronic media outlets, is one the most influential advertising companies in Serbia....