Serbian government examines National Savings Bank case

Jan 29 - The Serbian government has analysed the information it had received from the Serbian Public Attorney's office, Ministry of Finance and Economy, and National Bank of Serbia, related to the establishing and operations of national savings bank Nacionalna Stedionica (NS) and concluded that:

• The governor of the then National Bank of Yugoslavia (NBY), Mladjan Dinkic, violated the law at the signing of an agreement on the takeover of offices, equipment and staff, thus inflicting damage to the state

• NS has been granted monopoly over the repayment of old hard currency savings, at the recommendation by Governor Mladjan Dinkic in 2002

With the aim to establish the facts surrounding the setting up, operations and ownership structure of NS, the Serbian government has ordered the relevant ministries and institutions to take the following measures as soon as possible:

1. Investigate and establish who chose the founders of NS and why the Republic of Serbia was excluded from the process
2. Investigate whether the founding and operations of NS were managed by someone from the then NBY
3. Investigate why the task of repaying old hard currency savings was not assigned to some other state-owned institution, such as the Postal Savings Bank, which operates a network of branch offices capable of performing the task
4. Investigate whether the NBY deposits at the Wexim bank, now EuroAxis bank, was used for imports of energy products through firms owned by NS shareholders
5. Investigate whether the NBY has deposited any of its assets with NS, how it did it, and in which amount
6. Establish who is behind off-shore companies based in the British Virgin Islands, St. Vincent and Grenadine, and Austria and whether there are any links between their owners or managers
7. Establish who has attempted to bring a foreign strategic partner into NS without prior consent of the NBS