Instead of the Serbian state-owned company holding a 49 percent stake in the new “joint” venture, the sole owner of the facility, where production will not take place for the time being and where only Israeli drones will be assembled, through its subsidiary in Serbia, is a company headquartered in London.
After several postponements, former President Aleksandar Vučić opened a facility for assembling drones made by Israel’s Elbit Systems on September 17, at a “secret location” in Belgrade’s Makiš neighborhood. In a highly unusual move for him, in the middle of an election campaign, he opened it almost incognito, without even the presence of journalists loyal to him, accompanied by Israeli Ambassador Avivit Bar-Ilan.
He informed the public about the event on his Instagram account, stating that the “factory” would employ around 100 people and produce three types of Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles for the Serbian Armed Forces and the militaries of several other countries, with Valjevo-based Krušik supplying the explosives.
The news had barely had time to settle when experts in the defense industry realized that virtually nothing about this “factory” matched what the authorities had been announcing until recently. First of all, what opened in Makiš was not a joint Israeli-Serbian factory for mass production, but a small facility for simply assembling a limited number of highly sophisticated Israeli combat aircraft, informed sources told Radar.
Serbian state-owned company treated as an unwanted outsider
The ownership structure of the new facility, which is the most important part of this story, also fundamentally differs from what officials had been assuring the public until recently. The state-owned company for the production and trade of weapons, ammunition and military equipment, Jugoimport SDPR, had been presented as Elbit Systems’ guaranteed partner in the joint production of drones.
Although official documents, namely the strategic cooperation agreement with the Israeli company, identify Jugoimport as one of the key participants in the project to establish a joint factory in Serbia, it was ultimately left out altogether. To be fair, Elbit Systems is not mentioned in the ownership structure either, although its drones will at least be assembled in Makiš.
BIRN discovered that the “secret” drone assembly facility is located on the premises of Kupa Enterprise, a company established in April last year and registered for satellite communications. On September 17, it changed its name to SDS Technologies with the Serbian Business Registers Agency. Its owner is London-based Kupa Limited, which is majority-owned by Greek citizen Athanasios Ramos, BIRN revealed.
Major state business conducted in a microenterprise’s facility
Last year, the company whose facility in Makiš is now assembling Israeli drones had just one employee, which classified it as a microenterprise. With operating revenue of €412,000, it recorded a net profit of just under €53,000.
There is no sign of Jugoimport SDPR or its representatives in the management structure. The way Vučić opened a facility in which Jugoimport has no ownership stake whatsoever, combined with the fact that it will, at least for the foreseeable future, only assemble Israeli drones, raises doubts among defense industry experts about the seriousness of this business arrangement.
In any case, what the authorities announced differs substantially from what has actually been implemented. Under the strategic partnership agreement between Jugoimport and Elbit Systems, the two companies were supposed to establish a joint factory in which the Israelis would hold a 51 percent majority stake, while Jugoimport would be the minority partner with 49 percent.
No one in the relevant authorities has seen fit to explain how the state-owned company’s stake fell from 49 percent to zero. Nor has anyone explained what connection Serbia has to a company whose sole owner is a London-based firm, itself majority-owned by a Greek businessman, beyond the fact that it will provide the workforce.
Until just a few months ago, the project was being justified on the grounds that it would benefit Serbia’s defense industry through the potential transfer of Israeli technology for manufacturing highly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that this was apparently another plan that failed to account for reality, a scenario characteristic of the current authorities.
Even if the Serbian state does not derive any particular benefit from this “joint” venture, the Israeli private company Elbit Systems certainly will. Last year, Serbia signed two contracts with the company to purchase its products for nearly $2 billion.
MORE TOPICS:
Source: Radar, Zoran Radovanović Foto: Filip Krainčanić/Nova.rs/ Reddit Printscreen
Add Serbian Times as your Google source