17 Aug Media campaign against civil society and media – case of control by the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering
Belgrade, August 17, 2020
„This is not about anything special, but the most common checks. But politics is always in question. Let’s shout how we are endangered and we will get a little more money from the donors. And that is how it has been for 30 years “, said the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, at a press conference. He added that it is very important for the civil sector to be strong and for there to be a relationship of respect with the state, but that it is also very important that the laws apply to everyone and that no one should be above the law.
In his speech, the President did not comment on the fact that the article of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, referred to by the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, refers to the inspection of entities for which there is already a reasonable suspicion of money laundering or terrorism financing.
This narrative is actually the leitmotif of pro-government tabloids and pro-government media in reporting on the decision of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering to investigate more than 50 journalists, media and citizens’ associations regarding money laundering and terrorism financing.
In this way, certain media, individuals and organizations are being collectively defamed in front of the citizens, with obvious intent. The narrative of government officials and tabloid media close to the authorities is based on statements that this is a regular check and does not mean that reasonable suspicion exists, which if true is a direct violation of Article 73 of the Law (that such inquiries are sent only with reasonable doubt) by the Administration.
No statement by the government representatives or an article of the pro-government media provides an answer to the mentioned key question of the compliance with the law by the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, when making such a decision.
The law clearly states that there must be a reasonable suspicion. Only when the Administration determines there are specific indications or has evidence, an order is issued to control financial flows. No representative of the authorities, as well as the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, stated on what basis was the list of media, individuals and civil society organizations made. In that way, a kind of collective guilt is actually suggested, and phrases such as “why protest if they did everything according to the law” suggest to the citizens that insisting on respecting the law represents the fear of the named subjects that the control will reveal some illegal financial manipulations.
In this way, these specific organizations, media and individuals who fight for the functioning of the rule of law and the establishment of democratic principles are suspected of not working in the public interest and extracting financial benefits contrary to all the principles of the rule of law.
Also, by the decision of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, those who are on the list have been put in a position to defend themselves from absurd accusations in front of the public, and the actions of the entire civil sector have been put to question. It is important to add that the list also includes prominent organizations that organize philanthropic campaigns by collecting money from citizens, or finance their work in this way, meaning that thousands of citizens who donated small sums, for example for people with disabilities, providing help in the time of pandemic or supporting investigative journalism and articles on corruption are also checked as possible financiers of terrorism.
How does it work in practice?
Based on the analysis of online portals registered in Serbia, conducted by the Bureau for Social Research on July 28 and 29, on the case “Investigation of money laundering and terrorism financing by the media and NGOs”, among the media that positively reported on the decision of the Administration are majority the pro-government tabloids. In these texts, the emphasis is on the narrative that the proof these individuals, media and associations are certainly guilty is their protest against the decision of the Administration. This narrative continues the long-standing campaigns of defamation of civil society and the media, which always contain the terms traitors, foreign mercenaries and opponents of the state.
For example, the tabloid “Serbian Telegraph” (Srpski Telegraf) has already published several articles dedicated to this topic. Along with the headline “The state is investigating money laundering” and the subheadline “They’ll spill where their cash comes from”, the article published on July 29 lists the names of organizations and individuals that will be inspected.
The article entitled “Foreigners give 12 million euros for NGOs in Serbia”, published on July 30, 2020, says that “although those who are clean before the law have no reason to be hysterical, some immediately transferred this inspection to the politics, stating accusations that the inspection is an abuse of institutions for the purpose of intimidation and confrontation with critics of the government “.[1]
Accusing civil society organizations of “acting for political interests of foreign sponsors to the point of even initiating protests,” the article states: “It is not surprising that the action of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering within the Ministry of Finance, asking banks to submit all transactions for 20 people and 37 organizations as of January 1, 2019, in order to determine whether they have anything to do with terrorism financing or money laundering, caused panic.”
The editor-in-chief of the daily tabloid Informer, Dragan J. Vučićević, told TV Pink that he did not understand why some representatives of the non-governmental sector were protesting against the inspection by the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, if, as they claim, their finances are impeccable. Vučićević pointed out that no one put them under any special investigation, since the Administration exists and acts in accordance with all regulations, both European and international, and has the right of insight into the finances of every citizen. “In Europe and worldwide, it has been noticed that some of these organizations are used for money laundering and terrorism financing. “Serbia has received a recommendation from the EU and the UN to carry out inspection,” Vučićević pointed out, adding that this was made not into a media campaign against the state, but a harangue. He added, they want to say that someone is criminalizing them in that way, and wants to arrest them. “So if anyone did it, it’s N1. Informer did not publish the list of people who are under the control of the Anti-Money Laundering Administration. This was done by the N1 Television. “Jugoslav Ćosić is the one who received a very suspicious payment from Bashkim Ulaj, and Bashkim Ulaj is the one who is suspected by the Albanian media and the Albanian prosecution as a drug dealer,” Vučićević added. “If we want to be a state governed by the rule of law, there must be controls. In organized civilized countries of the world, those controls are every six months. Here, they are performed after several years. The fact that they protest so much against it speaks for itself,” Vučićević said. Vučićević assessed that whining is also a part of the special war, which is being waged by the yellow scum of the elite, Đilas’ people, and that a state of instability and irregularities should be created on every topic.
The mentioned tabloid Informer, in the article entitled “Panic of Sorosoids because of the inspection”, states that “it is not unknown that the non-governmental sector in Serbia is abundantly financed from abroad, often from the funds of both Rockefeller and George Soros”. “In part, that could be an explanation for the panic in the ranks of NGOs,” Informer writes.
Mario Spasić, Foto: Privatna arhiva
Mario Spasić, Secretary General of the Council for Monitoring, Human Rights and the Fight against Corruption – Transparency, a well-known GONGO organization, said for the tabloid Alo! “The campaign that was created against the activities of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, which are aimed at controlling the financial flows of a large number of non-governmental organizations in Serbia, individuals and legal entities, is very indicative.”
“It is completely clear that a large number of NGOs have significant financiers, mostly from abroad, and there is no reason why such cash flows should not be checked. It remains unclear what interests are pursued by individual NGOs and individuals funded from abroad, and the question arises as to why these interests should also not be publicly available. We call on state bodies and independent control mechanisms to check absolutely all NGOs in Serbia, to identify financial flows in previous years and to make this information publicly available. We also appeal for special emphasis to be placed on associations of judges and prosecutors, because financing their professional activities can put judges and prosecutors in a subordinate position in relation to financiers, which can finally lead to limiting the judicial capacities of the Republic of Serbia. “The fact that someone is being louder with their attacks, does not mean that they can and should be amnestied of any control and the control bodies should not be pressured to cancel inspection, all in order to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing,” Spasić told Informer .
It is indicative that the statements of GONGO representatives also target associations in the field of justice, and another such organization, the Association of Prosecutors and Judges of Serbia, wrote a press release requesting “to immediately check the financial transactions of associations that gather judges and prosecutors, starting with them, including the Association of Judges of Serbia, the Association of Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors, CEPRIS, the Alumni Club of the Judicial Academy and the Forum of Judges of Serbia.” The Association of Judges, the Association of Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors and CEPRIS, meanwhile, have spoken out about the illegality of the process of inspecting listed associations, supporting checks carried out in accordance with the Law.
The director of Studio B, a local Belgrade television station close to the authorities, Ivana Vučićević, told Informer that this case clearly shows “how Đilas and NGOs close to him, media associations and individuals imagine the state”. “Instead of supporting the state and inviting NGOs to provide all documents to the authorities for inspection, because they are “pioneers of respecting the law “, Đilas’ media and the so-called proponents of democracy attack the government only because it enforces the law, on the recommendation of the EU and the UN. And the thing is quite clear, if they worked honestly, they have no reason to be afraid. But if they break the law, sanctions follow. And hatred towards Vučić will not help them in that, in which they always find justification for all their failures. Such hysteria only means that many of them do not have a clear conscience,” Vučićević emphasized for Informer.
Informer also published pictures of individuals, some of whom are on the list, some representatives of associations, and some are not even on this list, such as the editor of N1 television, Jugoslav Ćosić.
Journalist Ratko Dmitrović, also in the Informer, says that “the NGO sector of Serbia is hissing like a snake. What, gentlemen, it bothers you that the state announced it will (finally) examine your business, money transactions? Why are you squealing if everything is fine? You think that your inviolability is guaranteed by spitting on Serbia, Serbs, RS, Vučić, the patriarch, SANU[2].” – said Dmitrović.
The pro-government daily „Večernje novosti“ also dealt with this topic. The text titled „It is no good when checking the origin of money“ quotes Zeljko Radovanovic, director of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering, as „regular activities aimed at assessing the risk of terrorist financing, and not conducting any investigation or classification of organizations into criminal groups“.
The weekly „Pečat“, as reported by the Standard.rs portal, in its edition of August 14, 2019, concludes that it is evident that this list of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering is obviously not just a list of opponents of this government. Because it contains not only opponents of the government, it is stated, but also opponents of Serbia, in the sense of their collaboration with someone else’s interest, which is generally completely opposite to the interest of Serbia. „We want to say that there is only one common denominator of persons and organizations from this list, and that is their Euro-Atlantic, that is, Western, source of funding. Which gives the whole case a completely different tone“, concludes the author.
Vojislav Šešelj, president of the Serbian Radical Party, commenting, as he says, “the media harangue organized by some media and NGOs financed from abroad against the state because the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering initiated a check of their finances, says that the matter is more than clear.” “All non-governmental organizations and media that receive money from abroad are foreign agencies. They receive that money for certain purposes. It does not have to be only of a spy or diversionary character, but all of them are financed by foreign factors due to certain interests, and there is no doubt about that “- Šešelj emphasizes for Informer. According to him, Serbia should follow the example of Russia, which has effectively resolved this issue.
This is only a small part of the texts and articles that appeared after the disclosure of the list, and it is realistic to expect that this campaign will continue. It is important to emphasize that these articles were disseminated on a large number of portals and in other media, meaning that the availability of this information to citizens far exceeds the availability of articles that deal with this topic in a neutral or critical way.
It is obvious that, among other things, compiling this list is an attempt to question a whole sphere of society, mainly through pro-government tabloids, and characterize it as an anti-state element in the eyes of citizens, and relativize the criticism often presented by civil society organizations, media and individuals.
[1] Article available in Civic Initiatives’s archives
[2] Serbian Academy Of Sciences And Arts