04. 03. 2005

GLAS JAVNOSTI A TAX DODGER

BELGRADE, March 4, 2005 – The Serbian Taxation Office and owner of the Glas Company have issued contradictory statements on detailed inspections of the company that publishes dailies Glas Javnosti and Kurir. Director of the Taxation Office of Serbia Vladimir Ilic said that the office has inspected the production of the company Glas due to outstanding tax obligations to the state. Glas owner Radisav Rodic, however, claimed that he would not pay taxes until the state paid him the compensation of damages, inflicted upon his company during Milosevic’s regime. Ilic also pointed that the Glas was one out of 600 companies in Serbia presently checked by the taxation office inspectors, as part of regular controls of the tax payers businesses. “There are records showing that Glas has not been paying taxes for two years. For example, daily Glas Javnosti, which is the part of Glas Company and employs 100 members of staff, had not been paid taxes for two years”, Ilic said to the Beta Agency. According to Ilic, the reprogramming of taxes was never approved to the Glas Company. He however could not give precise account on how long the tax inspectors would stay in the Glas premises. The owner of the Glas Rodic told the Agency that he had sued the state for compensation of damages in amount of 550 million of dinars, and that his current outstanding debt for unpaid taxes, together with the interest, was almost 28 millions. Rodic also claimed that he had an agreement with the Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic, that he would not pay current tax obligation until the court procedure was closed. According to Rodic, the publishing of the book "Democratic Plunder of Serbia" in Glas javnosti, where Mladjan Dinkic was portrayed in negative context, was the main reason for not meeting this "agreement".