Aleksandar Obradovic, the whistleblower from Serbia's western Valjevo town Krusik ammunition factory, told N1 Pressing political talk show held at his home where he was still under hpouse arfrest, that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) took control over the company and the institutions turned a blind eye on all dubious arms trade deals, seemingly under an order.

He had earlier disclosed what he said were dubious arms trade deals and linked them to the Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic’s father and the GIM company Branko Stefanovic worked for.

Obradovic said he collected evidence about those wrongdoings for five years and found out that even a photocopying paper had to be from a company linked to SNS led by Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic.

Speaking to N1’s Jugoslav Cosic, Obradovic said Krusik consciously worked to its detriment.

He added he had „serious suspicions that the top state leadership is involved in the arms trade,“ and „that’s why I am arrested and detained.“

Officially, Obradovic is suspected of revealing business secrets. He was arrested at the workplace in Krusik in September, and spent 20 days in house arrest and jail before the public learned about it in the media.

He said it was his idea to keep silent after he and his family „received information from family friends that my life was endangered, that I found myself between the two sides in a conflict, two parties in arms trading, and I was cautioned that everything should end in silence.“

The authorities said Obradovic could not be protected under the Law on Whistleblowers since he did not report his findings to the respective institutions but foreign media.

However, he said that „the Defence Ministry and the President of the Republic were informed about everything in details and that someone’s order was to turn a blind eye on all those things.“

„They had information weekly. I don’t know why no one reacted,“ Obradovic told N1.

 He said he tried to get the attention of the Defence Ministry Supervisory Board, telling them about the irregularities in the factory, and that the prosecutors had evidence that he wrote to the Board in 2015. „The board remained silent.“

Obradovic added that the story about the companies linked to the trade deals (GIM, linked to Branko Stefanovic,’ Partizan tek,’ owned by Slobodan Tesic, one of the biggest arms dealers in the Balkans who financially helps SNS, the ‘International Golden Group’ from Abu Dhabi, and yet another company from Serbia) was just a tip of an iceberg.

„There is a large group of private companies founded in 2016 and 2017 which replaced long-term Krusik suppliers and pushed them out of business,“ Obradovic said.

However, he did not want to disclose anything more, saying he couldn’t do that in public.

„I’m waiting for a call from the respective institutions, and I will present them with all my findings of the wrongdoings,“ he said.

Asked about his motive to go public with what he said he had found out, Obradovic replied that he did not want to be blind and mute about what was going on in the factory.

„This is a move by a loner.“