{"id":30397,"date":"2021-04-29T18:57:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T16:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=30397"},"modified":"2021-07-22T15:31:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T13:31:22","slug":"controversial-lease-between-state-official-and-telekom-investigation-full-of-holes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/controversial-lease-between-state-official-and-telekom-investigation-full-of-holes\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial Lease Between State Official and Telekom, Investigation Full of Holes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 2013, an unidentified person reported a suspicious lease involving public officials to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption<\/em> (called the Anti-Corruption Agency<\/em> at the time). The anonymous report says that state-owned telecom provider Telekom Srbija<\/em> was damaged by the concluding of a contract on leasing space in downtown Novi Sad, specifically an office on Bulevar Oslobo\u0111enja Street, one of the busiest and most important commercial streets in the city. The owner of the property is Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> official Igor Mirovi\u0107<\/strong>, while the report also presented suspicion that Jorgovanka Tabakovi\u0107<\/strong>, now the governor of the National Bank of Serbia<\/em>, assisted the controversial deal.<\/p>

Mirovi\u0107 and the then CEO of Telekom, <\/em>Dra\u0161ko Petrovi\u0107<\/strong>, concluded the contract in January 2008 for an indefinite period of time, with a note that Telekom <\/em>could not terminate it before 10 years had passed.<\/p>

The price per square meter was 37.18 euros \u2013 2,000 euros per month in total.<\/p>

At the time, Jorgovanka Tabakovi\u0107 was the director of Telekom\u2019s <\/em>Logistics Sector for the territory of Novi Sad and other cities in Vojvodina. Mirovi\u0107 and Tabakovi\u0107 were members of the Serbian Radical Party, <\/em>which had been a part of the government in Novi Sad until the 2008 election, and Mirovi\u0107 was also the director of the Novi Sad<\/em> City Construction Bureau.<\/em><\/p>

In late 2010, the then CEO of Telekom, <\/em>Branko Radujko<\/strong>, concluded an annex to the contract with Mirovi\u0107 which lowered the rent to 1,700 euros. Radujko, who early this year became the head of the Customs Administration, <\/em>refused to speak to CINS\u2019 journalists.<\/p>

The lease might not have looked suspicious if Mirovi\u0107 had not been paid the money before the space was even ready to use. Telekom <\/em>paid for the first year of lease (2008) in advance, and the payments continued even though this company opened a branch office at the location no earlier than in November 2010, that is, almost three years later. In that way, the company paid Mirovi\u0107 66,000 euros (around 6.3 million dinars) before it even started using the space.<\/p>

The Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia <\/em>(CINS) reveals that the anonymous report was followed by a preliminary investigation that lasted two and a half years and, according to experts, omissions in procedure made by the competent bodies, as well as that in the process of leasing the office space Telekom <\/em>bypassed the Law on Public Procurement in an unpermitted way, which the police and the prosecutor did not deal with. In a statement to CINS, Jorgovanka Tabakovi\u0107 denied her involvement in the closing of the deal.<\/p>

CINS managed to get confirmation that Mirovi\u0107 had rented out this office space at least until the end of 2016, thereby earning around 192,000 euros (more than 20 million dinars). It is unknown whether this business cooperation is still under way, but Telekom Srbija <\/em>has not changed the location of this branch office.<\/p>

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Telekom office on Bulevar Oslobo\u0111enja street; Photo: CINS<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Public procurement without regard for the law<\/h2>

There was a certain procedure in the leasing of office space, one of the former directors at Telekom <\/em>told CINS, speaking on condition of anonymity. He says that bargaining (negotiation) procedures were carried out in line with the Law on Public Procurement, which required the consent of the then Public Procurement Administration <\/em>(now the Public Procurement Office<\/em>).<\/p>

The head of logistics at the Telekom <\/em>headquarters (Logistics Department) would issue an order to their people to look for that space together with their coworkers from the local Logistics Sector, in this case the Vojvodina one which is in charge of Novi Sad. They made up the so-called commission.<\/p>

He adds that it was possible that no one at the local level knew about the search for a location, but points out that everyone used the knowledge of their colleagues from the city in which office space was being sought and their familiarity with the field.<\/p>

So, the local Logistics Sector would perform preparatory activities, i.e. ask around and find a location, while the Logistics Department arranged the cooperation itself. In his words, if someone from Novi Sad took part in the search for the office space, that person would be appointed by the head of the local Sector, at the Department\u2019s request.<\/p>

\u201cThey (the local Logistics Sector, journalist\u2019s note<\/em>) served as a connection of sorts in that process.\u201d<\/p>