Nova Ekonomija: Vucic's Aide Calls and Runs Meetings on Railway Works

Novi Sad Railway Station (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

A close aide to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Natasa Vuksic, played a shadow role in the project of reconstruction and adaptation of the railway to Hungary.

According to the Nova Ekonomija magazine, who cites testimonies before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad which it had access to, Vuksic called and ran meetings of the project participants. She was also involved on several occasions in the correspondence among the institutions in charge of the railway reconstruction, which was determined by a thorough examination of the documents published after the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station's outdoor concrete canopy on Nov. 1, 2024, which killed 15 people and severely injured two.

Nova Ekonomija examined 530 files containing electronic correspondence among the project participants, which was previously published by the Novi Sad Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, and found Natasa Vuksic's email address in them.

Vuksic was, according to the magazine, already a member of Vucic's office back when he was the prime minister. By a government decision of February 2017, Vuksic was appointed member of the National Council for Tourism Development, as a member of the prime minister's office, which was published in the Official Gazette at the time.

In April 2017, a presidential election was held in which Vucic won his first term of office, and Natasa Vuksic moved to the presidency building with him. That was confirmed by a government decision of October 2017 which partially changed the makeup of the National Council for Tourism Development. Natasa Vuksic was still a Council member, but now as a member of the president's office. Vuksic's LinkedIn profile states that since 2010 she has been employed at Ernst & Young, one of the world's biggest firms providing auditing, tax, business and IT consulting, and support in business transactions.

In the Chamber of Authorized Auditors, Vuksic listed 1, Andricev Venac street in Belgrade - the seat of the Serbian president - as her address. The email address she provided in the Chamber register is the same address with the government domain that was used in the correspondence related to the railway project.

Nova Ekonomija says that the content of the meetings led by Vuksic is unknown, but that her involvement raises new questions about President Vucic's role. It is already known from the published documents that the president influenced the railway project, since in 2022 he asked that the Chinese contractor complete the reconstruction before the deadline, as Forbs previously reported.