BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian organized crime prosecutors on Monday charged a government minister and three others with abusing their power and falsifying documents to help pave the way for a real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Criminal charges are proposed against Culture Minister Nikola Serakovich – a close ally of authoritarian President Aleksandar Vucic – and three other officials, according to a statement posted on the official website of the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation focuses on the controversy over a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was once a cultural heritage site but is facing redevelopment into luxury buildings.
Last year, the Serbian government signed a 99-year lease agreement with Kushner-linked US-based Affinity Global Development. At the time, Kushner confirmed reports that his company planned to fund the $500 million project. It will include a high-rise hotel, a luxury apartment tower, office space and shops.
Serakovich and others allegedly illegally revoked the site’s protected status by forging documents.
It’s unclear when a trial could take place.
Proposals to build high-rise hotels, offices and shops at the site are backed by Vucic’s government but have faced strong opposition from domestic and foreign experts, as well as the Serbian public.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, Serbian lawmakers passed a special law last month clearing the way for construction. Vucic said the project would benefit Serbia’s relations with the United States and that he would pardon anyone convicted in the case.
“I’m guilty,” he said recently. “I’m the one who wants to modernize Serbia. I’m the one who wants to bring in big investors.”
The U.S. government has imposed a 35% tariff on imported products from Serbia. It also sanctioned Serbia’s monopoly oil suppliers, which are controlled by Russia.
Critics say the building is an architectural monument seen as a symbol of resistance to U.S.-led NATO bombing, which is still widely seen as an unjust “aggression” in the Balkan country.
In 1999, Serbia suffered 78 days of bombing, forcing then-President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on Kosovo’s separatist Albanians. Anti-NATO sentiment remains strong in Serbia, and many Serbs are particularly sensitive to the role of the United States in the renovation of military buildings.
These buildings are considered fine examples of mid-20th century architecture in the former Yugoslavia.
