Vucic: There Is No Conflict Between Stefanovic and Me

Aleksandar Vucic (Beta/Milos Miskov)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has dismissed allegations by certain media that the ongoing arms trafficking affair is in fact his showdown with Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic.

Answering reporters' questions after a tour of the Belgrade Waterfront on Nov. 15, Vucic said that he had severely accused Nebojsa Stefanovic's father when he said he was employed at the GIM company, because he had wrongly thought that to be true, but that Stefanovic had confirmed to him that Branko Stefanovic was not even an employee at the company.

He told the heads of the opposition Alliance for Serbia several times to "stop lying" and to decide whether this was "big crime or a party showdown."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves, saying that this is crime, lying to the people, if we in the party are clashing with each other, convincing the people that this is big crime, how dare you lie, when you yourselves say that it's an internal party showdown because I want to Europeanize the party, lying that we are all engaged in crime, how can you say that," said Vucic and pointed out that the opposition "lies all day, every day."

"I ask again, was that crime or a party showdown? They are either morons or liars, there is no third option," said the president.

He added: "If Branko Stefanovic or Nebojsa Stefanovic have committed any crime," those who claim that should press criminal charges.

Asked to comment on a document stating that Branko Stefanovic visited Krusik in 2017 as a member of an official GIM delegation, Vucic said that it proved nothing and that he didn't know where Branko Stefanovic had been at the time, "because I'm neither his father nor mother."

As for Aleksandar Obradovic, the whistleblower from Valjevo, Vucic said he was not a real whistleblower, that his mother had gotten him a job at Krusik and when she was dismissed she moved on to a position at a rival company, while Obradovic presented his findings to "a foreign state."

"Why did you destroy our defense industry, why didn't you say that two Bulgarian companies which sell mines and grenades have the same program as Krusik, so you wanted them to sell and Krusik to fail," said Vucic.

Vucic underscored that the opposition was trying to cover up its own affairs and added that the real whistleblower, Lazar Lesnjak, who had uncovered the affairs of Belgrade's Stari Grad municipal chief Marko Bastac, would be protected because he had witnessed the most severe criminal offenses.