Novi Sad, an example of corrupt connections

"Andrej Vucic is the real mayor Novi Sad”, is the title of the December 2019 interview given to Vreme by Borislav Novaković, the former mayor of Novi Sad. Then, and years before, Novaković remained the harshest critic of the authorities in the capital of Vojvodina. He continuously warns about the fact that organized crime is being used by him, largely imported from Belgrade and Kosovo. Namely, apart from Andrej Vučić, he often mentioned the role of the "controversial businessman" Zvonko Veselinović in Novi Sad's progressive affairs.

Considering that until recently there was a wide spiral of parties in the Novi Sad government, from POKS to the League of Social Democrats, blows came from various sides. Even those who were opposition-minded could not quite believe that things were as bad as Novaković presented them. It was said: Bora is exaggerating, he is crazy. In the meantime, it turned out that he was right, his words are now being repeated by many. The recently published Scream research, based on the intercepted messages of an associate of drug dealer Darko Šarić from 2020, is another proof that Novaković's harsh criticism was grounded in harsh reality.

"WEATHER" To begin with, could you tell us how you came up with the information at a time when everyone was silent and pretending to be silly out of fear or conformity??

BORISLAV NOVAKOVIĆ: Excellent professionals and people who love our city work in all Novi Sad institutions. They know the difference between public interest and personal selfishness. Everyone was bothered by the two dominant features of the SNS government which were visibly expressed in Novi Sad, namely incompetence and thievery. It is precisely from this concern for the public good and the desire to save the city from primitivism, arrogance, simplism and irreparable deviation from the legal, cultural and communal history that Novi Sad has always positioned as an orderly and civilized city, that the whisper rebellion arose, and later the public rebellions of all those who do not agree to be silent observers of the general collapse of all values. So, first cautiously and with restraint, and later openly and openly, individuals contacted me with the desire to talk about everything that burdened public life in Novi Sad with their incompetence. By the way, since I've known Vučić since 2000, I've always had a strange feeling of fear that he produces in people. He is just an emotionally unbalanced person, but also a coward. He deserves not fear but contempt.

The intercepted conversations are from 2020. What's up in the meantime?, according to your information, happened, what dynamics of the relationship between crime, progressive government and (secrets) police in Novi Sad?

In Novi Sad, there is criminal promiscuity between the heads of the BIA, the police, the judiciary, the prosecution, city politicians and criminals. Everything is played according to the folk song "Ruka ruku mije". The lights are out, everyone is involved in corruption and no one is endangering anyone. The names of the office bearers change from time to time, but the system remains the same. Since 2012, no one has been arrested, neither from the authorities, nor from the economic bubble that SNS is dragging with it. Why is that so? Very simple: in our country, the BIA is the epicenter of organized crime. BIA forms, develops, nurtures and protects organized crime. Of course, with the active assistance of the top police, which is politicized and criminalized.

Novi Sad is the most obvious example of this corrupt connection. Nikola Vasiljević, yesterday's regional head of the BIA, and now Vucevic's security adviser, was and still is friends with Zvonko Veselinović and Goran Kovačević Goranec. That practice remained even after Vasiljević, only now it is more intimate and firmer. Namely, the current head of the BIA for Novi Sad Bečić, his deputy Simo Aleksić and Goranac have known each other since Vrbas and now "only the sky is the limit"! That bestiality of Nikola Vasiljević went so far that he does not even hide his corrupt savings. On his wife, he registered the elite wine shop "Dekanter" in an exclusive part of Belgrade on the water. The estimated value of the wine shop is around 2.000.000 euros. Totally disgraceful and reckless behavior.

What was Andrej Vučić in charge of in Novi Sad and beyond?? What is his role in regime affairs?

Andrej Vučić appears in the party power structure as an extended hand and executor of the will of his brother Aleksandar Vučić. Priests would say that he is in charge of blessings and anointing. Therefore, he resolves major corruption disputes. Arbitrates and reconciles conflicting parties. It determines the distribution of money from large investment deals. He resolves political conflicts by replacing and appointing. In short, everything that his brother Aleksandar objectively cannot do, Andrej does for him. Of course, most important of all, he is Aleksandar Vučić's personal postman because he collects envelopes of different sizes and forwards their colorful contents to his brother.

And Zvonko Veselinovic?

Zvonko's job is to coordinate and harmonize relations between criminal groups. That mediation applies equally to pure crime, but also to the division of loot, when it comes to city investments, because all criminals have companies that are under their control. Some, like Marko Bosanac Bosket, have companies that are registered in their name, and some, like Goranac, have companies through which they do business even though they are not formal owners. A huge number of public procurements in Novi Sad end with a single offer, because it is known in advance who the work is intended for and no one else is allowed to compete. And if there are more offers, they are rigged and only create the appearance of competition. Of course, Zvonko orchestrates the crime scene with the full assistance of the BIA and the police.

What did Novi Sad actually represent to the progressives? A kind of "golden cock"? And what does that have to do with, let's say, the enormous construction of buildings, that is, urbicide?

photo: phonet

Unfortunately, under the rule of Miloš Vučević and Milan Đurić, Novi Sad became only an obedient follower of that policy of greed and a model of "investment urbanism". Urbanistically and communally, Novi Sad was massacred. Therefore, it is a practice that maximizes profit and minimizes humanity. What the transcripts of the conversation, published by the Crick, describe to us is about the struggle and criminal turmoil surrounding the energy business. However, immeasurably more money flows into Novi Sad on the basis of housing and construction.

The main tricks and corrupt affairs of this government are happening in the urban and construction sector. Most of the frauds were realized through changes in urban documentation. Detailed regulation plans were massively corrected by increasing the number of floors, cubic capacity and degree of construction. On the European map of dirty money flows, Novi Sad is marked as a hub for drug trafficking and as a place where a huge amount of "dirty money" is "laundered" through housing construction. Everything that gives charm and quality to city life in Novi Sad has disappeared under the rule of SNS. There are no parks, children's playgrounds, squares, bicycle and trim tracks, sports fields, etc. Places of gathering, socializing and recreation have given way to concrete and steel.

To what extent can it be said that former mayors Miloš Vučević and Milan Đurić were only fictitious mayors? And what recommended them for that place in the first place?

They were formal mayors, and the actual mayor was and remains Andrej Vučić. People are usually recommended by their virtues, and Vucevic and Đurić were recommended by their flaws. Above all, obedience and servility. They represent the victory of mediocrity and the triumph of impersonality. With their modest capacities, they represent the average and cross-section of SNS. They are proof that in SNS politics it is not important to be capable, it is important to be representative and accepted. It was sad to listen to Miloš Vučević, who does not distinguish Aleksa Šantić from Đura Jakšić. It's not a problem that he shamed himself, the problem is that he shamed the city he comes from.

And why did they resign?, what are the essential reasons according to you?

Their position was completely indefensible. The hooligans who beat the students with baseball bats are activists who left the SNS premises. At that moment, not only Vučević and Đurić fell personally, but the entire violent concept of politics, which had been pushed by Aleksandar Vučić until that moment, fell. If Vučević and Đurić had not resigned, Vučić's resignation would have been on the news. Vučić saved his head by placing theirs on the drum.

From the correspondence we see that he is an important man in Novi Sad, and apparently not only in Novi Sad, was also a convicted drug dealer-dealer Goran Kovačević Goranac. He was temporarily and slipped out of the ground. What is his role??

After Aleksandar Vučić announced the showdown with Goranec, calling that obscure character a "drug addict and drug dealer", it was clear that there was nothing to be gained from the arrest. Arrests are never announced, but are prepared in the utmost silence and carried out professionally without fuss. The intention was not actually to arrest the Goran, but to discipline him and bring him to his senses, which means that he respects the mafia hierarchy and obeys Andrej and Zvonko Veselinović unconditionally. After all, the information that he fled the country was correct two months ago. However, he returned in the meantime and is now back in Novi Sad. There is only one conclusion from this new circumstance: the Vučići and Goran Kovačević Goranac settled. The love between SNS and Goranec is blooming again. A logical question arises as to why the Vučići do not renounce Goranec. I think two reasons are crucial. First, Goranac is the biggest buyer of votes for SNS in Novi Sad. At a time of political turmoil, Vučić obviously judged that it was not intelligent to give up about 19.000 votes that Goranac can secure. Second, politics has always represented the ability to gather, not disperse. At this moment, when he is standing in the quicksand of his decline, one point of support, even a criminal one, is not out of the question. Vučić is too weak to open another conflict in which loss is guaranteed.

"Injured" is Slobodan Milutinović Sniper (in Kriko's correspondence it is Slobica), the progressives renounced him despite the important role he played in the power structure. He once gave you a warning before the lawsuit because you talked about him as a criminal. Has the lawsuit reached you and what is happening with him in the meantime?

Slobodan Milutinović Snajper was disowned by SNS because he is colorful and colorful, but not an important criminal. He has been out of office for four years now, and it is a big question what his real social power is. Simply, with his behavior and stupidity, he began to do more harm than good to their campaign and the outcome was inevitable - they let Sniper down the drain. By the way, in the distribution of corrupt spoils through public procurement, he had a relatively small share, and he built his influence more on his personal relationship with Miloš Vučević, and much less on the amount of money he had at his disposal. He is currently in Spain and the day when he will be delivered to Serbia is clearly approaching.

A kind of "hero" of correspondence is businessman Dragoljub Zbiljić, which is called in conversations "normal person"(kao, not from the world of crime) even though he was in an ongoing relationship with an associate of a drug leader-time sheet. What does he represent in Novi Sad and Serbia?

Dragoljub Zbiljić secured himself a privileged position from the time when he was the SNS guarantor for this loan with which they financed the campaign in 2012. In the hierarchy of power, only Andrej Vučić is above him. His company "Energotehnika Južna Bačka", Bošnjak's "Millenium Team" and Slijepčević's GAT are the holy trinity of Vučić's corruption. All important and profitable business goes through those three companies. Zbiljic is the most important midfielder and distributor of power. He "packages" investments and gives legal form to tricksters. Siniša Malog's job is to provide money, and Zbiljić's job is to finish the job through "operatives", so that the Vučić brothers are fed and all the money is in the account.

Is the conflict between the SNS a, or criminal clans, reflected on the work of the Novi Sad police? We know that even two former first policemen of the city are under the attack of criminal liability. Why are they actually "pali"?

Regardless of what they "fell" on, the fact that the last two chiefs of the Novi Sad police ended up in custody, with serious charges, is scandalous in itself and says a lot about the security situation in the city. This fact brings unrest and unrest because crime is committed by those who are paid to protect us from criminals. The law is broken by those who are obliged to respect the law. Slobodan Malešić came to Novi Sad at the suggestion of Zvonko Veselinović and it was only a matter of time when he would respond, while Šušnjić and Hrkalovićka obviously favored and protected Darko Elez. Hrkalović broke all the rules of the service. In the conflict between the Kavac and Škaljar clans, she took the side of the "Kavacans" and thus caused incalculable damage to public safety. Until the SNS came to power, the state did not divide criminals into good and bad, into those who are for us and those who are against us. That amateurish and naive involvement of Vučić's leadership in the world of crime will cost that party dearly.

The killer of the famous man from Novi Sad has not yet been discovered "tough guy" Dragan Amidžić Amidža. They are silent about it.

Novi Sad has become a city of unsolved murders. It is as if the blood crimes sector does not exist in the Novi Sad police. Not only the murder of Dragan Amidžić Amidža remained unexplained. The murders of Branko Glušica, Marko Markuš and Đorđe Zafirović Zafiro remained unsolved. Their families and the public are demanding justice, detection and conviction for the killers. Those murders form another cube in the criminal mosaic of Novi Sad, which make life in our city unsafe.

Apparently, It seems that in Novi Sad (and the whole country) he does not know where organized crime begins and where the Serbian Progressive Party ends. Will the criminal circles be the last line of defense of the progressive government?

There is no doubt that criminals will defend Vučić's government. Not because of Vučić, but because of myself. Why? Those under Vučić's rule were not under the attack of the law, on the contrary, they were partners in business. They are not persecuted, but respected. They are not undervalued, but privileged. They are the main buyers of capillary votes, and while buying votes, there will also be freedom. They know that with Vučić's departure, they and their "combinations" are also going down in history.

And will some of them try or are they already trying to make a connection with the opposition?

I believe they will try, but I am not the right address for that question since I opened a front with everyone who means something in the world of Novi Sad crime.

And what is the role of progressive coalition partners in Novi Sad, current ones and former ones?

If the coalition partners tie their fate to SNS, then they will share that fate. With the departure of SNS, they too will lose weight and relevance. This is not about loyalty or disloyalty, but to what point they are ready to follow the crazy and irresponsible policy of Aleksandar Vučić, because his downfall can be theirs too.

For the end, although it is not the topic of this interview, how do you think the political crisis that Serbia is in will end? What is, in your opinion, logically?

On Tuesday, the Serbian People's Movement presented its proposal for a solution to get out of the socio-political crisis we are in. Our proposal is the formation of a transitional government, the establishment of which would involve the professional bodies of blocked universities, the opposition and the current government. That government would have to fulfill three goals within a maximum of 12 months, which would be the deadline: full and immediate fulfillment of all the demands of students in the blockade, action against corruption and organized crime - which would also include the removal of the Supreme Public Prosecutor - and to prepare and conduct democratic and fair elections. The entire concept of the Government's program, the choice of ministers and the presidential collegium that would lead the Government is elaborated in detail in a document that can be found on our website. Of course, we are ready to discuss different solutions for getting out of this crisis, but no one has yet come up with anything similar, and it is important that all the students' demands are met as soon as possible.