BELGRADE, 23.07.2019. – A journalist for the KRIK investigative journalism portal told N1 on Tuesday that there are indications that the portal and its staff are being monitored by the authorities.
Journalist Dragana Peco recalled that President Aleksnadar Vucic said a month ago that KRIK would be reporting about Finance Minister Sinisa Mali‘s brother which KRIK has done.
KRIK reported that the minister’s brother Predrag Mali has been driving a car owned by private companies for the past five years. Predrag Mali’s Audi was first owned by Milenijum Tim (owned by Ivan Bosnjak and Stojan Vujko) which was engaged on state-sponsored projects such as the Belgrade Waterfront. The car was later registered to KBV Datakom owned by the same two men who also owned an apartment that Predrag Mali’s girlfriend lived in, KRIK said.
Peco told N1 that the story was published after months of research and investigation which produced clear indications of corruption, including police reports which showed that Predrag Mali was stopped while driving the Audi intoxicated in December 2014.
The publication of the story was followed by what she said was a synchronized attack on KRIK in pro-regime media which claimed that the portal was persecuting Predrag Mali’s girlfriend and their child.
“We were attacked like this before. They attack us with lies and inaccurate things,” she said adding that KRIK always sticks to journalistic standards and does not follow people around.
Peco said the pro-government tabloids claimed to have received information about KRIK from “intelligence sources” and recalled that the Informer tabloid did receive information earlier about a portal editor from Serbia’s top civilian security and intelligence agency – the Security Information Agency or BIA. She said that Vucic told TV Pink a month ago that KRIK was preparing an attack on him and mentioned his own and minister Mali’s brother. “He also spoke about things we discussed in the office which raises suspicions that they we are being followed,” Peco said.
