A Slovenian tabloid spreading Vucic’s lies about Solak

NEWS 08.04.202316:57 0 komentara
United Media, Nova.rs/Vesna Lalić

A story based on fabricated speculation has appeared on the front page of a Slovenian tabloid, alleging that the owner of the United Group, Dragan Solak, is a "double spy".

Serbian tabloids carried the story with even more bombastic and manipulative headlines. N1 Slovenia put the matters in context and managed to reveal the reasons why Serbian tabloids imported these texts more and more quickly.

As N1 Slovenia reports, Serbian tabloids, which, as they state, like the vast majority of Serbian media, are under the complete control of President Aleksandar Vucic, are once again full of reports about Dragan Solak, businessman and co-owner of United Group, which operates in several countries of the European Union and the Western Balkans.

As an example, they use the titles “Double Spy” and “The Great Discovery!”.

This is another attempt to discredit and spread lies about Solak, which are abundant in the Serbian media, N1 Slovenia reported, adding the United Group is practically the only independent media in Serbia that Vucic would like to get rid of.

They allege that the extent of the brutality of Vucic’s conflict with Solak’s independent media is also seen in the fact that he paid for the rights to broadcast matches of the English Premier League through the state-owned Telekom Srbija, at the price ten times higher than regular one.

The goal, according to N1 Slovenia, was only for the media owned by Dragan Solak to “get down on their knees”.

Telekom Srbija, which is a state-owned company, paid an incredible hundred million euros for these rights per season, or 600 million for six seasons, although, for instance, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the transmission costs only about 25 million euros per season.

This is just one of the latest examples that shows how brutally Vucic is dealing with Solak’s independent media in Serbia, and the attacks on the media under Vucic’s control must also be understood in this context.

However, according to N1 Slovenia, the latest discrediting attempt did not start in Serbia, but in Slovenia, where United Group also has significant investments, including Telemach and N1 Slovenia online portal.

Of course, the Serbian tabloids immediately “imported” the article of the Slovenian tabloid portal, which claims to “have exposed Solak’s Russian connection in the heart of Europe.”

At a time of war in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, this is certainly one of the worst possible forms of discrediting.

The Slovenian portal targets Swiss lawyer Wolfram Kuoni, who was previously one of the board members of United Media Network AG in Switzerland, as Solak’s “Russian connection in the heart of Europe.”

This “discovery” is supported by the allegations that he was previously a member of the board of directors of the Swiss branch of Gazprom Bank, that he also has Russian clients as a lawyer and that his wife sympathise with Russia.

But the facts are as follows – United Media Network AG cancelled cooperation with Kuoni last year. All telecommunications operators that are part of the United Group stopped broadcasting Russia Today during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which even resulted in Vucic’s media reporting that Solak was denying the public’s right to information.

Also, N1 Slovenia reminds, the United Group donated a million euros of humanitarian aid to Ukraine last March.

On the other hand, Vucic’s Telekom Srbije continues to broadcast Russia Today unhindered, even though this Russian state television is on the list of Western sanctions, which Vucic apparently does not take into account.

In addition, an affair exposed by independent journalists and with European Parliament member and special rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Blicik, in the spotlight, is strongly flaring up in Serbia these days.

It was revealed that Bilcik was at a meeting where the contents of the draft report on Serbia’s progress in the EU accession process were agreed upon alongside the proposal that the state-owned Telekom Srbija should not be mentioned in the report.

It is the fact that the Serbian president, who actually plays both sides and flirts with the West on the one hand, and on the other hand constantly maintains an open door policy with official Moscow, is not choosing means in his conflict with Solak, who in the business world is considered a very Western-oriented businessman. This is exactly what has been a thorn in Aleksandar Vucic’s side for years.

The portal Uncensored reported that he also made a secret pact with the then Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa.

Namely, according to this media outlet, prior to the last year’s elections – those in Serbia on April 3 and in Slovenia on April 24, they allegedly agreed to abuse institutions in both countries in order to gather information about their political opponents.

According to the portal, the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering, which was headed by Damijan Zugelj during the time of the Jansa government, allegedly checked the transactions and accounts of more than a hundred persons in Slovenia without authorisation.

However, in the end, according to unofficial information available to N1 Slovenia, the prosecution rejected the lawsuit, which was then filed against Solak together with the financial administration by Zugelj’s cabinet.

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