Belarusian dictator was invited to ski resort by Serbian oligarch Kostić

Information why Lukashenka has chosen Serbian Kopaonik has been received.

As Press online informs, the Belarusian leader has arrived to this resort on a personal invitation of Grand Hotel owner, : Miodrag Kostić. Lukashenka and all the people who have arrived with him are staying in this hotel.

Press online stresses that at the moment a business-forum is held in Kopaonik now. Serbian president Boris Tadić and Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska (one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina) are participating in the forum. Miodrag Kostić believes that in course of time this business-forum is to be called Serbian Davos due its representativeness. At the same time, Kostić haven’t said whether Lukashenka is to meet with any representatives of Serbian government taking part in the forum.

Despite of his large purse, the reputation of Miodrag Kostić who owns agrarian company “MK grupa” in Serbia is ambiguous. He is suspected of inappropriate and even illegal methods of conducting business, Belorusskiye novosti writes.

In June 2004 he was even arrested by the authorities of then united Serbia and Montenegro. He was charged with financial fraud, in particular, in abusive financial practices in deliveries of sugar to the European Union. Brussels stated that Kostić was buying sugar in third countries at give-away prices and delivered it to the EU with violation of the privileged regime.

They say that Miodrag Kostić earned not only his millions in sugar frauds, but his nickname of “the sugar king of Serbia”. In 2005 Miodrag Kostić with his 300 mln Euro was on the last position among the 100 richest businessmen of post-Soviet countries, according to the Polish weekly “Wprost”.

Miodrag Kostić also has interests in Ukraine. Via the Kyiv-based company Agroinvest he is engaged in agriculture, in particular, corn production and trade. Kostić is going to build a plant for bioethanol production out of maize.

Ideally Kostić would like a production cycle of his company to last for 12 month a year, so he wants to expand his business tanks to Kazakhstan, Argentina and African countries. “MK grupa” also have plans for Belarus. Last April Miodrag Kostić visited our country and visited Baranavichy and Babrujsk districts. The Serbian businessman would like to rent 50 thousand ha of farmland in Belarus. But in Baranavichy, for instance, local authorities were ready to offer only 10 thousand ha for Serbian needs.

Grand Hotel were Alyaksandr Lukashenka lives now, and several restaurants and houses in Kopaonik resort were bought by Miograd Kostić last year. Serbian mass media noted that this deal was very strange in many respects. “MK grupa” won tender without any rivals, and the cost of the purchased assets was twice as little as initially stated, 23 mnl Euro as compared to 45 mln Euro. Besides, Kostić’s company was interested in health resorst in Montenegro.

In his country 48-year-old Miodrag Kostić is also known for his former wife Marijana Kostić married a famous German football player Lothar Matthäus (they are divorced now). Miodrag Kostić named his 50-metre yacht “Аleksandr V”, in honour of his son Aleksandr who was 5 at the moment of the yacht’s purchase.

It has been also reported that today somewhere in the pause between a ski and relaxing swimming in a swimming pool, Lukashenka met with Mirko Cvetković, Serbian Prime Minister, and Vice Prime Minister Mlađan Dinkić. They had informal talks.

Lukashenka and Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, photo by yahoo.com