Glas Istre: Serbia sold land on Cres, Roman Abramovič was interested?

Glas Istre writes that the Government of Serbia sold 750 000 m2 of land near the city of Osor on the Croatian Island Cres, having approved the Directorate for Property of Serbia to accept the offer of a company from Zagreb.

Zagreb’s company “DKC More” offered €5.5m for that land and gave guarantees from a London-based bank. An Austrian company offered €9.5m, but it had no bank guarantee.

The newspaper points out that there are many unsettled matters in that transaction and it cites spokesman of the Croatian Privatization Fund (HFP), Vedran Kukavica, that the Croatian Government does not see open competition and sale of land as a formal-legal fact.

"Glas Istre" cites that the land for sale is a large and very attractive one and it aroused the interest of a Russian magnate, Roman Abramovič, but, because of the land-utilization plans, construction is currently prohibited on that land.

The land near Osor was registered in 1977 as property of the Municipality of Stari Grad in Belgrade, based on which the Government of Serbia is now selling it as its own. The land was used by the Yugoslav People’s Army and Belgrade’s company “Progres”, and in 1997, the registered owner was HFP.

Company "DKC More", which applied for the open competition, was founded in 2001 and its owner is Željko Tepšić, who was also the owner of company "DKC" that was suspended 10 years ago.

According to unofficial information, the Government of serbia and authorized commission will invite Tepšić on short notice to sign the contract and then he will have to pay the amount of €5.5m within 90 days.

The newspaper writes that it is not clear in what way will "DKC More" become the owner and register as the owner of real estate when even the Government of Serbia, when it announced open competition, pointed out that it did not guarantee that.

General consul of Serbia and Montenegro in Rijeka, Dušan Mrdović, said for Zagreb’s "Jutarnji list" that there were about hundred real estates on the territory of Primorsko-Goranska region in the property of juristic persons from SCG.