Radar publishes transcript of state agency ex-director's phone call showing rigging of tenders

Following a recording of a phone conversation with Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, Radar also came into possession of a recording of another phone conversation of the then Serbian Building Directorate director and now former acting director of the company Serbian Railways Infrastructure, Nebojsa Surlan, this time with Milos Popovic, the chief of staff of former Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and incumbent president of the Politika AD Supervisory Board. Their phone conversation hints that senior members of the Serbian government were involved in rigging tenders for certain companies that are close to the ruling structures, reported the weekly Radar. Before the new edition of Radar was sent into print on Tuesday, following this weekly’s reports information was released that Surlan has resigned.

The topic of the phone conversation was a tender worth approximately 15 million euros, apparently for the construction of apartments for members of the security forces, military, Serbian Interior Ministry and Security Information Agency (BIA). All would be well if the phone conversation between Surlan and Popovic did not lead to the conclusion that the tender specifications were customs made for the Serbian branch of the Turkish company Tasyapi to get the job. Tasyapi had also been engaged on state projects in the past, despite its not so good reputation, especially regarding deadlines and quality of construction. Radar says that perhaps the decisive factor for this job was the fact that the Turkish company applied for the tender as part of a consortium, which also included the Millennium Team, one of the local companies often hired by the government for state infrastructure projects.

Specifically, Popovic called Surlan to tell him that he had previously spoken with Prime Minister Brnabic, that the deadline for applications for the tender had passed, that no one responded to it, and that a decision should be made whether to extend the deadline or call a new tender, with different specifications.

Surlan: Well you know what, it

the deadline] for Kraljevo has passed and I have already issued orders to my people to send an answer to this contractor…but I think he was told that there would be no extension.

Popovic: Yes…who is that, did the Turks apply in the end, because they said they would. Because we agreed with them at the meeting, here five days ago, when their Turkish man in charge from Turkey was here

probably referring to the president of the company Tasyapi, Emrullah Turanli, with whom the then minister of construction, Zorana Mihajlovic, signed a framework agreement on behalf of the Serbian Government in 2018, under which this company was hired for the construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo motorway]. The Prime Minister and Zorana

Mihajlovic] and I, we were all there, and they said they’d apply.

Surlan: …No one tells me anything. You understand… I made a normal tender now, because the previous one was a disaster. Can I just say something, between you and me? Zorana gave me such a “hard time” two days ago that I wrote to her saying I would resign. In the end she said – don’t, something like she won’t hear of it. I’ve had it up to here with everything. No one tells me anything – and in the end, it’s all my fault. Get it? So, I no longer know what to do. Omar

Musabegovic, director of the Serbian branch of Tasyapi since July 2021] was just here. He was here an hour ago. He says: “You know, I don’t have licenses.” So I said, man, where the f…have you been? We issued the tender three weeks ago… So, the tender is open. The previous one was made in a way that no one could apply. Advance guarantees of 15 million euros, no one had that. Now, we’ve had inquiries from small local companies and I have a feeling that people will apply. Omar came over to ask what he is to do, I tell him – apply, submit a bid. What can I tell you… my personal opinion is that we will have lower bids, that we won’t even look at his… I can’t guarantee anything, it’s just a feeling I have.

Popovic: Yes, yes.

Surlan: I don’t know why it’s important for him to apply? I think it’s counterproductive, for the Turks to apply, and these guys are giving a lower price.

Popovic: So that means you have other requests this time?

Surlan: Well we’ve had inquiries from some smaller companies. We replied to, I don’t know, fifty questions… Interest is being shown, it’s not like there’s no one interested… But look, he told me

probably Omar] “Do you guarantee that someone will submit a bid?” I said I didn’t have a clue, I guess they will. It’s a good thing, you know. I think we’ll have it.

Popovic: Who are they representing…

Surlan: Well Tasyapi. He had some three questions, something about licenses…

Popovic: They wanted to extend the deadline?

Surlan: Yes, but for me the main question is why do the Turks have to submit? Why did we go with a tender then?

Popovic: Because we though no one would apply, like they didn’t for Vranje …

Surlan: Should someone have told me – make it in a way that only the Turks apply? No one tells me anything, get it?

Popovic: That’s wasn’t the idea. The only thing

important] for us was to ensure that someone applies, so we wouldn’t be late, you know that.

Surlan: Here, let me tell you Milos. Tell the prime minister …

Popovic: I can’t hear half of what you’re saying…we thought she

Zorana Mihajlovic] has everything under control.

Surlan: …If we don’t have a single bid tomorrow, I will resign. I’m telling you, I swear.

Popovic: …The prime minister asks whether she has to deal with every detail of everything, like a junior officer. We had a meeting with the Turks three-four days ago. Zorana was there, everything is under control, they are applying. Now suddenly she writes: they knew when the deadline was. We don’t even know what company this is, for whom they requested an extension, is it them, are others applying? And here, what you told me now – those conversations of yours… I don’t know anything. She told us that everything is under control.

Surlan: Please, don’t, now I’m supposed to snitch on her.

Popovic: No, I won’t…

Surlan: …I’m one of the few directors who didn’t come here through the party. I joined the SNS a year after I became director. Believe me, I’m sick and tired of everything.

Popovic: I believe you, I believe you, because you’re not the only one who says that and works with her. I’m openly telling you. I also no longer know what I’m doing. We should see some processes through and whenever we come across her department we encounter those personal problems…

Surlan: … Omar came over today and said he is missing some licenses. I say – brother, where were you three weeks ago. I called him the day the tender was issued. Though he did not answer because he had been arrested. How can I tell you…

Popovic: Well, great…

Surlan: …I told the Ministry – send us a list of contact persons. He

Omar] is on that list and what do I do now? Wait a minute, hey, the prime minister is meeting with someone who had been arrested. Get it?

Popovic: …I asked her

Ana Brnabic] after the meeting what was he doing here? She says – I don’t know what these Turks are doing. He came with his boss, his chief. The guy brought him to the meeting, him and his own daughter. I’m guessing they know something we don’t when they did something like that…

Surlan: Yes, but there’s one more thing you need to understand. So, there’s Zorana, there’s Ana and there’s Ivica Kojic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s chief of staff]. I no longer know who to talk to about what. So, Zorana was not involved in the project for a year, and now she’s suddenly involved.

Popovic: I know. Believe me, we all have the same problem…

Surlan: …But, how do I say this, goes with Vucic, goes here… I get that. Ivica Kojic suddenly calls me with some questions and now I’m thinking, dear lord, where did I f… up….

Popovic: …It goes the way it goes. Of course, what we’re talking about, it’s strictly between us, so we’ll see how things will go…

The case was resolved when the contract was finally awarded to a consortium of two companies, Millennium Team and Tasyapi, which the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) has written about. This research portal reported that these two companies got a contract worth 15 million euros to build apartments for members of the security service in the cities of Nis and Vranje, and that this figure was 18 percent higher than the estimate the relevant ministry made prior to the request for tender. According to KRIK reports, the state accepted only one bid, and even Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, who was asked to give an opinion, had no objections. A scandal broke out just a few months later, in March 2019, because the director of the Turkish company’s Serbian branch, Omar Musabegovic, was detained on suspicion of giving and receiving bribes.

If it is a golden age in Serbia for anyone, then it’s for the company Tasyapi. In just three years, from 2019 to 2021, its revenues increased almost a hundred fold, from 134 million dinars to 12.96 billion dinars, while its net profit increased 54 fold, from 52 million to 2.8 billion dinars. According to the latest available data, the company ended the year 2022 with a revenue of 7.3 billion and a profit of 1.3 billion dinars, so in the last two years alone its owners pocketed over 35 million euros in profit.

Despite the many earlier scandals, at the end of 2019 the company was also awarded a contract worth 225 million euros for the construction of 18 kilometers of motorway from Sremska Raca to Kuzmin.