# Belgrade's New Year lights and the company Keep Light Category: Money and deals Period: from 2014 Outcome: Complaint dismissed or proceedings halted (as of 3 Jul 2018) Since 2014, the City of Belgrade has bought its New Year lights mostly from a single company, Keep Light, and the Pištaljka portal reported that a 2016 tender called for decorations from a catalogue for which that company is the sole distributor. According to Danas, about €4.3 million had been spent by mid-2018, and according to Pištaljka, an €83,000 Christmas tree was put up before the decision to award the contract. Prosecutors dismissed the criminal complaints, and none of the six responsible institutions examined the disputed tenders in 2017. In October 2026, Keep Light again won a city contract worth 198 million dinars excluding VAT. ## Cost of the lights Since 2014, the City of Belgrade has bought its New Year lights mostly from a single company, Keep Light (Kip lajt). According to figures published by the daily Danas, spending rose from about 3 million dinars in 2014 to about 57 million in 2015 and about 190 million dinars in 2016; by mid-2018, according to Danas, about €4.3 million had been spent in total. Mayor Siniša Mali called the lights an investment that attracts tourists. In October 2026, Keep Light again won a city contract for holiday lighting, worth 198 million dinars excluding VAT. ## A tender built on one company's catalogue In 2016, the Pištaljka portal reported that the public utility company Javno osvetljenje had asked in its tender documents for decorations identical to those in the catalogue of the Greek company Fotodiastasi, whose sole distributor in Serbia is Keep Light. The company's director, Aleksandar Cincar Poposki, said the tender was not rigged. ## An €83,000 Christmas tree In December 2017, Pištaljka reported that a city secretariat had bought an artificial Christmas tree from Keep Light for €83,000, and that it was put up before the decision to award the contract. Mayor Siniša Mali announced that the contract would be terminated, and the company later donated the tree to the city. President Aleksandar Vučić said that three bids had been received, but documents obtained by N1 show only one. ## Complaints dismissed, tenders unchecked The Ne da(vi)mo Beograd initiative filed several criminal complaints; prosecutors dismissed them, the last one, over the Christmas tree, in 2018. None of the six responsible institutions, among them the State Audit Institution, the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, examined the disputed tenders in 2017. The State Audit Institution did not audit these purchases in either 2016 or 2017. ## Participants - [Keep Light d.o.o. (Kip lajt), Belgrade](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/keep-light): It has won city lighting contracts since 2014; according to Pištaljka, the 2016 tender called for decorations from a catalogue of which it is the sole distributor (responsible) - [Siniša Mali](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/sinisa-mali): He called the lighting an investment in tourism, promised more purchases and announced that the tree contract would be terminated (commented on the case) - [Aleksandar Cincar Poposki](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/aleksandar-cincar-poposki): According to a criminal complaint by the Don't Let Belgrade D(r)own initiative, as the utility company's director he is responsible for the 2016 lighting tender; prosecutors dismissed the complaint (responsible) - [Darko Glavaš](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/darko-glavas): According to Pištaljka, as acting secretary he signed the decision to pay Keep Light, the sole bidder, €250,000 for decorations (responsible) - [Goran Vesić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/goran-vesic): He announced 20 million dinars for lighting in 2016, defended the purchases as an investment in tourism and sued an MP over statements about the tree (commented on the case) - [Aleksandar Vučić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/aleksandar-vucic): He said the Christmas tree costs €69,000 and that three bids had come in, but there was only one bid (commented on the case) - [Belgrade public utility company “Javno osvetljenje”](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/jkp-javno-osvetljenje): It has signed contracts with Keep Light since 2014; according to Pištaljka and Danas, only that firm met the tender requirements in 2016 and 2017 (responsible) - [Belgrade City Secretariat for Defence, Emergency Situations and Coordination](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/sekretarijat-odbrana-beograd): According to Pištaljka, it bought an €83,000 Christmas tree from Keep Light that was put up before the contract decision, and in 2018 bought decorations from the only bidder (responsible) - [City of Belgrade / City Administration](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/grad-beograd): According to RFE/RL, it launched a 300-million-dinar tender dominated by Keep Light and did not answer any of 16 questions (responsible) - [Second Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/drugo-ojt-beograd): It dismissed the complaint against Mali, Cincar Poposki and the director of Keep Light, finding no criminal offence (responsible) - [Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/vjt-beograd): It dismissed the criminal complaint against Glavaš and the director of Keep Light over the purchase of an €83,000 Christmas tree (responsible) - [State Audit Institution](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/dri): Its audit for 2014 listed the contract with Keep Light; the utility was not in its programme for 2016 and 2017 (oversight and the public) - [Don't Let Belgrade D(r)own](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/ne-davimo-beograd): It filed criminal complaints against Mali and others over the procurement of lighting and the Christmas tree (oversight and the public) - [Pištaljka](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/pistaljka): It reported that the 2016 tender required a catalogue for which Keep Light is the sole distributor, and that the Christmas tree cost €83,000 (oversight and the public) - [Balša Božović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/balsa-bozovic): Vesić sued him for injury to honour over his statements about the €83,000 Christmas tree, seeking a million dinars (oversight and the public) ## Sources - [Državna revizorska institucija: Audit report on the financial statements and regularity of operations of the public utility company “Javno osvetljenje”, Belgrade, for 2014](): 2015 - [Danas: Another €200,000 for lanterns in Belgrade](): 3 Jul 2018 - [Danas: How much does it cost to make Serbia sparkle?](): 16 Dec 2016 - [Danas: Smederevo, Novi Sad and Valjevo also rigged tenders](): 20 Dec 2016 - [Nova ekonomija: Keep Light shines again: Belgrade once more spends almost 200 million dinars on holiday lighting](): 15 Oct 2026 - [Danas: "For the prosecution, tender rigging is not a crime"](): 12 Apr 2017 - [Danas: Criminal complaint against Mali over holiday lighting](): 21 Feb 2017 - [Danas: €1.7 million to the same company for decorating Belgrade](): 18 Sep 2017 - [Danas: No one is investigating the suspicious tenders for New Year lighting](): 11 Oct 2017 - [N1: Criminal complaint against Mali over New Year lighting](): 28 Nov 2017 - [Radio Slobodna Evropa: Pištaljka: Suspicious purchase of New Year tree in Belgrade](): 21 Dec 2017 - [Danas: Belgrade's tree costs more than the Rockefeller one – €83,000](): 21 Dec 2017 - [021.rs: Only one bid for the €83,000 tree (N1 Info, via 021.rs)](): 30 Mar 2018 - [Radio Slobodna Evropa: New Year squandering of Serbian citizens' money](): 26 Dec 2017 - [Danas: Mali: We are cancelling the tree contract immediately](): 21 Dec 2017 - [Radio Slobodna Evropa: Čačak: Criminal complaint over €30,000 tree](): 4 Jan 2018 - [021.rs: False promises about cancelling the tree contract (Danas, via 021.rs)](): 6 Jan 2018 - [Danas: Božović: The Christmas tree is an insult to the people of Belgrade](): 4 Oct 2018 - [Danas: Vasilić: Mayor Mali must have known about the tree contract](): 23 Dec 2017 - [Radio Slobodna Evropa: Decorating Belgrade instead of scrubbing it clean](): 14 Nov 2018 - [Radio Slobodna Evropa: Decorating Serbia at citizens' expense](): 21 Dec 2018 - [Danas: Another €250,000 to Keep Light for New Year lighting](): 15 Nov 2018 - [Danas: Vesić: 300,000 people visited Belgrade Winter, New Year lighting to stay up until 15 February](): 2 Feb 2019 - [Danas: Nova ekonomija: 204 million dinars to take down old lighting and install new](): 18 Sep 2019 - [Nova ekonomija: Keep Light repairs New Year lighting for 12 million](): 2 Oct 2019 - [N1: From a starry gate to a glowing fountain: €2 million to Keep Light for illuminated holiday decorations for Belgrade](): 14 Oct 2026 - [Nova ekonomija: Keep Light decorations for Belgrade just the tip of the iceberg: from an overpriced Christmas tree to contracts with the state worth millions](): 16 Oct 2026 --- Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/novogodisnja-rasveta As of: 4 Nov 2026 Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)