Key facts
- Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić allegedly personally intervened to advance a scheme to develop a Trump tower on a protected Belgrade site.
- Senior figures in Vučić's regime, including the culture minister, have been indicted for abuse of public office related to the project.
- Kushner's company announced the project's halt after the indictments.
- The Guardian investigation suggests Vučić led a crucial meeting about the scheme that is not mentioned in the indictment.
- The General Staff building's protected status was removed in November, ten days after Donald Trump's US presidential election victory.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić personally intervened in an alleged scheme to hand over a protected Belgrade site for a Trump tower, The Guardian reported, citing interviews and leaked documents. The intervention allegedly occurred before senior figures in his regime were indicted for abuse of public office.
Vučić is accused of summoning officials to a meeting at his presidential offices to discuss overriding the protected status of the General Staff building, an architectural gem and emblem of resistance. The building was bombed by NATO in 1999. Vučić himself had reaffirmed its protected status in 2016.
According to sources, Vučić told heritage officials they were lazy and incompetent and that they should do as he wanted or resign. The following month, an agreement between the Serbian government and Kushner's real estate company leaked, showing authorities had granted the company a 99-year lease for the site free of charge.
After the heritage officials refused to cancel the protected status, they were reportedly told to resign by Finance Minister Siniša Mali. Both officials resigned, with Đukanović writing that she could not agree to "inappropriate interventions that would permanently destroy all the values of the complex."
Representatives for the Trumps and Kushner denied any part in removing the building's protected status and stated it would be "false" to say the project was part of a "pay to play" scheme. Vučić threatened reprisals against prosecutors, calling them "corrupt gangs" and stating Serbia had "lost an exceptional investment."