Radar: Serbia Has Taken on Obligation of Demolishing Army Headquarters

Former Army Headquarters Complex (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The Radar weekly has published excerpts from a secret contract between Jared Kushner and the Serbian Cabinet on the former Yugoslav army headquarters which say that Serbia assumes the obligation of demolishing all of the buildings at the site and gifts a 99-year lease to Kushner while allowing the possibility of later ownership.

Kushner holds a majority 77.5 percent share in the joint venture company which will build in place of the former general staff building, hence it will get the lion's share of the profits, Radar reports. "If the country does not fulfill its part of the deal by May 2026, the U.S. partner is entitled to terminating the contract and collecting millions in damages," the paper said in an article titled, Vucic's Purchase of U.S. Mercy.

The investment contract, which Radar exclusively examined, further states that the the state "of Serbia is obliged to remove the general staff building's status as a cultural good 'in a way that is satisfactory' to Kushner's company, and complete the works on demolishing the building also in 'a way that is satisfying" to the company, while the land that the building is located on is given as a free 99-year lease, with the option of being transformed free of charge into the right of ownership," the weekly said.

The contract was adopted in a Cabinet conclusion at a session in February 2024 while it was signed with a representative of the aforementioned U.S. company on May 13, the same year in Belgrade. On the Serbian side, the document was initialed by Goran Vesic, then minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, who is currently being investigated by the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime for suspected financial malversation in a Serbian railway modernization project.