Dragan Šolak assessed the entry of two police inspectors into the headquarters of the United Group as proof of the deep political and interest connection between the company BC Partners and the United Group with Aleksandar Vučić.
Minority owner of United Group Dragan Šolak assessed that the entry of two police inspectors into the company’s headquarters in Belgrade on Monday was “part of a political, media and illegal operation, which the company BC Partners and the new management of the United Group agreed with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić“.
He points out that everything was done “according to the alleged order of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and the information was synchronously placed in the regime’s media“.
In a statement published by N1, Nova and Danas channels, Šolak reminds that this cooperation was recently confirmed by recordings and documents of international research networks, such as OCCRP.
He assesses that this action confirms “the deep political and interest connection of the company BC Partners and the United Group with the authorities in Serbia” and shows how far they are willing to go in an attempt to justify illegal decisions and cover up responsibility for the collapse of the company that he and his associates built for years.
“According to my information, it was Vučić who was personally asked to launch a new investigation through his prosecutor’s office, so that BC Partners and the new managers of the United Group, just before the trial I launched in Amsterdam on the management crisis, would try to create a false narrative and a PR campaign in the international media, with the support of the totalitarian regime from Serbia. This is not an investigation, but a coordinated attack to falsely prove my alleged guilt for the operations of my own company, in which the management, with me at the head, is a co-owner 42 percent,” Sholak announced.
Application for a new director
Police inspectors, by order of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, entered the headquarters today United groups “for the purpose of collecting business documents and other relevant materials”, RTS portal reported.
The action was carried out after the report filed by the company’s new director against the former management on suspicion of corruption and abuse of office, reports the regime media.
The police allegedly collected documents and other evidence that could help determine possible irregularities in the work of the former administration. The investigation is in the “initial phase”, and according to sources close to the investigation, the goal is to determine whether financial abuses or other illegal actions occurred in the operations of the United Group, RTS unofficially learns.
In the vocabulary of the regime media: the police are “combing” Sholak’s papers.
Backstage games
The higher public prosecutor’s office in Belgrade has not yet officially announced the action, while no comment has arrived from the United Group on the allegations of the filed criminal complaint.
As “Vreme” learns, N1 sent a request to the Prosecutor’s Office to explain why the inspectors entered the offices of the United Group.
The Junajdet Group, ie BC Partners, is the majority owner of the company Junajdet Media, which owns the N1 and Nova S televisions.
For a long time, it has been circulating in the public that BC Partners could try to impose a change in the editorial policy of these two television stations, which are critical of the regime of Aleksandar Vučić, or simply close them down.
United Group sued the founder Dragan Šolak for a disputed bonus of 250 million euros
The company United Group, owned by the British investment fund BC Partners, launched a lawsuit against its founder and former CEO Dragan Šolak, claiming that he unjustifiably tried to collect a bonus in the amount of 250 million euros. The lawsuit was filed on October 7 at the Commercial Court in London, the Financial Times reported.
According to court documents, United Group sued Sholak and his company, Gerrard MIP Limited, which still owns a minority stake in the group. In the lawsuit, it is stated that Sholak is demanding the payment of a bonus that was agreed upon in an earlier period, but the provisions of which later became the subject of a dispute between him and the current management of United Group.
According to the British media, Sholak was dismissed earlier this year from leading positions in the company he founded and which he led for years as the largest telecommunications and media group in Southeastern Europe. Despite the ouster, he has retained an ownership stake in United Group and is trying to exercise contractual “special awards” clauses from before the acquisition by BC Partners in 2019.
The United Nations Group and BC Partners have so far not publicly commented on the case, while Sholak, through his lawyers, denied any irregularities and announced that he would “actively defend himself against unfounded claims”, the text concludes.
Source: Vreme
