UG: Serbia's Telekom boss will have to explain his business moves in court

The Group added that by "his manipulative appearances on TVs and in tabloids, he is trying to hide the fact that under his leadership Telekom can achieve results only with the state authorities' pressure on our company and by preventing the infrastructure expansion."

"Serbia's people are aware that our company is a leader in telecommunication and media services in South-Eastern Europe and that one of the largest investment funds, BS Partners, is behind it. We have 11 million users in eight countries, and in the last year, we had key acquisitions that opened doors to the Bulgarian and Greece markets," the UG statement said.

As the company operating in Serbia, UG invested over 900 million Euro, employed 2,700 people and services all legal obligations, it added.

"All taxes are paid on time, and the independent control by the international auditors is an additional confirmation of our proper business, including all tax obligations settled," the statement said.

It added that the media operating within the Group had the viewers' most tremendous confidence and were seen as the most credible in all countries.

"All this is just a fraction of the United Group's continued leadership in the region, which could not be denied by forged results presented in public or by attacks in tabloids," the Group said.

On the other hand, it added, "it seems the state, as the (Telekom) owner, supports the strategy of giving dozens of millions of Euro to tabloids' owners and for opening cable news TVs to create an illusion of (media) pluralism while empowering the media unanimity.

"Despite hiding from the independent institutions such as the Anti-corruption Council, to which he refuses to provide data about how much money Telkom gives to the tabloids' owners, Lucic will have to explain in court the strategy of spending people's money in nontransparent business moves like buying or financially helping different media which cannot be legally owned by Telekom," UG said.

In his business strategy, Lucic "crossed" all boundaries existing even in Serbia, the UG said, and managed to get to the European Parliament, which demanded Belgrade show convincing results in the Telekom case investigation.

That shows, the UG adds, "how this self-proclaimed promoter of the European business rules in fact endangers and slows down Serbia's European integrations at the expense of all its people."

N1 operates within the United Group.