Daily Večernje novosti writes that more than 20 persons have so far been questioned about the sale of the Smederevo-based steel mill and that businessman Danko Đunić will be questioned in January.
At the time when the steel mill was sold Labus was a deputy PM and a minister for economic relations, Vlahović was an economy and privatization minister, Đelić was a finance minister while Kolesar was a head of a working group in charge of the Sartid privatization and a then PM Zoran Đinđić’s chief of staff. Đunić was in charge of appraising the steel mill as an owner of the Economic Institute.
According to the assessment of the Anti-Corruption Council, were assumed by the state, Sartid was sold to US Steel for EUR 23 million in 2003 while the mill’s debts, that amounted to EUR 1.7 billion.
On March 8, 2002, an agreement on strategic partnership was signed by then Sartid Director Živomir Novaković, US Steel Košice Director John Goodish and Vlahović.
US Steel therefore got an exclusive right to run the production in the steel mill for five years without being held responsible for possible poor business results.
Investigators have so far learnt that Sartid was intentionally led to the state of bankruptcy in order to reduce its price.
In late 1990s Austrian Voest Alpine was interested in buying the Smederevo mill and assessed its value to USD 430 million.
US Steel decided to leave Serbia in January 2012 and the state bought back the still mill for USD 1.
Daily Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in 2004 that Sartid had been bought for USD 33 million and that USD 23 million had been paid in cash while USD 6 million had been given for transactions and fees and USD 4mn for severance pays. The investigators are currently investigating how USD 6 million disappeared and who took the money intended for fees.
