The owner of the arms shipment of the plane that took off from Niš airport last night and crashed near the city of Kavala in Greece is the Serbian company Valir doo, which deals in arms trade and other defense solutions.
The formal owner and director of this company, founded in December 2019, is Mladen Bogdanović, who confirmed to Serbian media that the show on the plane belonged to him. According to him, it is about the so-called “educational mines”, the export of which was agreed and contractually agreed with the Bangladesh Ministry of Defense in 2021 and which should be used to train members of the Bangladeshi army.
Tešić financed the campaign of the Democratic Front in Nikšić?
Photo: krik.rs
According to reliable information M portalBogdanović only appears as the owner of “Valir doo”, while Slobodan Tešić, one of the largest arms dealers in the Balkans who has been under US sanctions for years, and issued an arrest warrant from Interpol in 2021 for him is informally behind the company Tunisia, on suspicion of involvement in money laundering.
Also, Slobodan Tešić is considered to be one of the businessmen who are very close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and according to reliable information from Portal M, Tešić used his money to finance a large part of the Democratic Front campaign for local elections in Nikšić, as this opposition party took power and, with the help of the Democrats and the URA, elected Marko Kovačević as president of the municipality of Nikšić.
An 85 cent start-up investment for a gun trading company
“Valir doo” was founded on December 23, 2019, just fifteen days after the United States of America tightened previously imposed sanctions against Tešić, a group of his close associates and companies associated with him.
According to the Serbian Business Register Agency, the company “Valir” was founded with a start-up contribution of 100 dinars (85 eurocents today). Already in 2020, just a few months after its creation, “Valir” records millions in sales, which is unusual for a new company in a rather closed business like arms trading, where the main recommendation is the previously acquired “reputation” from the dealers themselves.
Almost nothing is known about Valira’s formal director, Mladen Bogdanović, apart from his testimony at the time of the plane crash in Greece. That is why there is a lot of information about his “silent partner” Slobodan Tešić.
Also, Slobodan Tešić is considered to be one of the businessmen who are very close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and according to reliable information from Portal M, Tešić used his money to finance a large part of the Democratic Front campaign for local elections in Nikšić, as this opposition party took power and, with the help of the Democrats and the URA, elected Marko Kovačević as president of the municipality of Nikšić
In 2017, following a decision by then-President Donald Trump, the United States imposed sanctions on Tešić based on the Magnitsky Act – the law through which America sanctions those violating human rights.
He was then described as “one of the largest arms and ammunition dealers in the Balkans” who spent almost a decade under UN sanctions for exporting arms to Liberia. The Finance Secretariat’s press release at the time said Tešić completed the export of arms by bribing customers, taking them on expensive vacations and paying for their children’s education at Western universities.
A diplomatic passport for Tešić from the SNS government
Serbian portal KRIK has researched Tešić’s business relations in detail to find information that Tešić was removed from the UN’s “black list” at the same time as Vučić’s SNS came to power in Serbia.
Soon after, he received a diplomatic passport from Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkić, which is usually given to state officials. Mrkić also employed Tešić’s daughter Danijela, who was previously on the SNS list in the parliamentary elections, in the ministry he heads. Tešić also had other privileges in Serbia.
His companies, revealed “Krušik” whistleblower Aleksandar Obradović, had a privileged position in this state-owned company compared to other arms dealers – they bought arms at privileged, lower prices. Obradović was arrested for publishing this and other information about Krušik’s business and a case was brought against him.
Also, Tešić leased a villa in Belgrade’s elite Dedinje district from the state, as the Anti-Corruption Council previously announced, and made donations to the foundation of former President Tomislav Nikolić,” KRIK said.
Just two years later, on December 9, 2019, the USA tightened and expanded sanctions against Tešić, so that people and companies associated with him were “blacklisted”.
The American government’s announcement at the time said that Tešić, who has been under sanctions for two years, continued to operate as a “silent partner” in several companies involved in the arms trade, meaning he ran companies in which he was neither owner nor director.
“Tešić still controls many if not all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations, including brokering deals and scouting for new business opportunities, but he relies on trusted associates to sign contracts and appear on all public documents.”
Because of this, nine of Tešić’s employees have been placed under sanctions, according to the announcement: Goran Andrić, Esad Kapidžić, Nebojša Šarenac, Zoran Petrović, Nikola Brkić, Milan Subotić, Želimir Petrović, Sreten Cvjetković and Ljubo Maričić. The companies directly or indirectly controlled by Tešić that were also included in the list are “Moonstorm Enterprises” and “Tardigrade Limited”, both based in Cyprus, and “Business Diversity Limited”, based in Hong Kong.
Source: https://www.danas.rs/svet/region/avion-koji-se-srusio-u-grckoj-prevozio-teret-kompanije-iza-koje-neformalno-stoji-slobodan-tesic/ translated: https://newsbeezer.com/serbiaeng/was-the-plane-that-crashed-in-greece-carrying-the-cargo-of-the-company-that-slobodan-tesic-is-informally-behind-region/
