{"id":38423,"date":"2024-05-30T18:04:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T16:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=38423"},"modified":"2024-05-30T18:04:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T16:04:59","slug":"serbian-progressive-party-s-mysterious-3-million-euro-purchase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/serbian-progressive-party-s-mysterious-3-million-euro-purchase\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbian Progressive Party\u2019s Mysterious 3-Million-Euro Purchase"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 2 a.m., a cargo plane of the state-owned <\/span>Uzbekistan Airways<\/span><\/i> took off from the capital of this Asian country \u2013 Tashkent. After just under six hours of flight, the plane arrived at its destination \u2013 Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade.<\/span><\/p>

It was January 28, 2022.<\/span><\/p>

Upon landing, Serbian customs officers recorded that it was carrying cups, vests, aprons, and back scratchers, among other things. In the days that followed, two other planes with similar cargo landed at Belgrade airport.<\/span><\/p>

According to customs data obtained by the <\/span>Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia<\/span><\/i> (CINS), SNS imported more than a million items that year \u2013 scarves, vests, bags, ice scrapers, cups, and back scratchers. Although these products originated from China and cost around 1.1 million EUR, SNS paid almost double that amount just for their import into Serbia.<\/span><\/p>

Including their transportation on flights from Uzbekistan, Turkey, and China via Russia, SNS allocated roughly 2.9 million EUR for the materials.<\/span><\/p>

It is unclear from the data we obtained whether the goods were branded prior to import. Also, we do not know whether they were used for the 2022 election campaign, although similar items were later used in the campaign.<\/span><\/p>