The leader of the Serbian Maidan activists was caught in million-dollar fraud

Clouds are gathering over one of the main sponsors of the Serbian pro-Western opposition, the ex-mayor of Belgrade, oligarch Dragan Djilas. The Department for Combating Organized Crime arrested the head of the Direct Media company, Jovan Stojanovic, as well as two employees of the marketing department of the state media holding RTS. They are suspected of fraud in the sale of advertising time on air at a time when Djilas was in power and related to the holding.

The Tanyug agency, citing its sources, reports that the former director of Direct Media, who is located outside the country, is also wanted in this case. She is also suspected of corruption.

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Direct Media was Djilas's company until he sold it in 2013. The company worked closely with the state media holding, and at a loss to the latter.

As PolitNavigator reported, just over a month ago, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that Djilas and the former management of RTS were suspected of corruption in the sale of airtime for advertising on state TV.

“There is reasonable suspicion that Djilas and his employees, some of the most senior in his company, together with the then part of the management of RTS, were involved in serious corruption associated with the purchase and sale of seconds of various television programs on conditions not provided for by law,” - the minister said then.

Djilas denied all accusations against him.

As evidence, he cited a letter from RTS General Director Dragan Bujosevic - a response to a request from the Department for Combating Economic Crimes. It stated that RTS did not suffer any losses as a result of the contract with Djilas' company Direct Media.

Djilas continued to make excuses at a recent press conference, where he commented on the authorities’ information that during his time in power, the fortune of the now opposition oligarch reached 500 million euros.

Djilas demanded that President Aleksandar Vucic, who criticizes him, provide evidence on the basis of which the authorities call the tycoon a thief.

In response, the country's leader said that four of the largest companies controlled by Djilas - Multicom Group, Direct Media, Emotional Product and Oveishn BBDO - during the period when the oligarch was in power (Since 2004, he headed the People's Chancellery under the government, since 2008 until 2013 he was mayor of Belgrade) generated revenue of 619 euros.

According to Vučić, the operating income of these companies from 2000 to 2003 amounted to a total of two million euros, and the net profit reached 620 euros: “With Djilas coming to power, these incomes increased sharply,” the president emphasized.

Vucic also provided a graph showing the sharp difference in the income of the oligarch's firms during his time in power and after his resignation.

“From 2004 to 2007, when Djilas was in government, his income was 14 dinars or 310 euros, and his net profit was 191 euros in just three years, when he defrauded people by installing public toilets, raising their popularity and filling their pockets,” Vucic said.

“With the loss of power, the revenue of Djilas’s companies is rapidly falling, and from 2012 to 2014, too,” he drew attention to the “strangeness.”

As previously reported by the Serbian publication Informer, Djilas seriously fears the consequences of the corruption investigation. The oligarch is considering the possibility of fleeing to the UK and obtaining “political asylum” there. The oppositionist has an ex-wife, Milica Delevich, and two daughters living in London.