Serbian leader says Kushner deal is not an attempt to influence Trump
Serbia’s president on Monday dismissed any suggestion that he deliberately tried to steer a valuable real estate project in the Serbian capital to Jared Kushner, Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, in an effort to influence Mr. Trump if he did so. return to the White House.
“I was dying of laughter,” Serbia’s leader, Aleksandar Vucic, said at a meeting, mocking news reports that Mr. Kushner was close to a deal to invest $500 million in the redevelopment of a high-profile site in downtown Belgrade, the capital. “I read in some newspapers that I was using this for political leverage against Trump, who was corrupting America or someone in America. I am a miracle. It’s incredible what I can do.”
Mr. Kushner, a senior White House adviser under Mr. Trump, worked on the plan with a second former Trump aide, Richard Grenell.
The preliminary agreement between the Kushner team and the Serbian government would grant Mr. Kushner’s investment company a 99-year lease at no cost, and the right to build a luxury hotel and apartment complex and a museum on the site of the former headquarters of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense in Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO in 1999.
News of the proposal provoked strong objections from leaders of opposition parties in Serbia on Monday a meeting of parliament.
Opposition party leaders said they were not properly informed of the plan and called it inappropriate that an American company owned by a member of the Trump family should be allowed to make a profit from a location that hosts a US-led coalition had bombed 25 years ago.
“It shows such a lack of dignity and feeling for the country,” said Aleksandar Pavic, a lawmaker from an opposition party who is not aligned with Mr. Vucic. “It’s a shame and a slap in the face.”
Mr. Pavic said he and his party colleagues may not support the appointment of a new leader to join Mr. Vucic to serve as president of the Serbian parliament, partly in protest against the redevelopment proposal.
Mr. Vucic said at his separate event that he was “partially aware” of Mr. Kushner’s proposal. But he said the details of the deal were being handled by Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.
“I know that when he does something, he does the job safely, smartly, seriously and responsibly,” Mr. Vucic said of Mr. Mali, whom Mr. Grenell has described as a personal friend.
“Always a fun time with @mali_sinsia #belgrade,” said Mr Grenell wrote on a social media account in 2021next to a photo with Mr. Mali in a bar in Belgrade.
The photo was shown by another MP on MondayAleksandar Jovanovic, who ridiculed the friendship between Mr Grenell and Mr Mali.
“I ask all parliamentarians who support the General Staff to donate money to American offshore companies. Please raise your hand,” Mr Jovanovic said, referring to the members of parliament and the General Staff Building, the name used in Serbia for the former military headquarters. None of the MPs saw him raise his hand.
Dragan Djilas, Serbia’s leading opposition party leader and former mayor of Belgrade, said in an interview on Monday that “we will try to stop this,” referring to the proposed project. “How can you give someone land completely for free?” he said.
Mr. Kushner and Mr. Grenell said in interviews that the project was a way for the United States to help address the scars left by NATO bombings, adding that profits from the redevelopment of the government land would be shared with Serbia.
“The opportunity to have American investors redevelop the former military headquarters of the government of Yugoslavia symbolizes the tremendous progress that has been made to heal the wounds of the past,” Grenell said. “This project will turn a symbol of past conflicts into a bridge of friendship and renewal.”
The project in Serbia is one of three that Mr Kushner and Mr Grenell are trying to develop in the region, with two more planned in Albania. Their total investment in the region for luxury hotels and related developments would be worth about $1 billion, company officials say.