Category: Money and deals
Period: from 18 Dec 2015
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 23 Jul 2021)
In 2018 the Ministry of Economy sold the assets of PKB, including 16,785 hectares of land, to the only bidder, the Emirati company Al Dahra, for €105 million, about half the appraised value. The sale was made possible by the Government, which in 2015 instructed the State Attorney's Office to drop its lawsuits, so that state-owned farmland was registered as PKB property. The state is now buying back part of that land for Expo and the National Stadium, according to Radar at about 13 times the price. The sources found contain no data showing that any law enforcement body has examined the sale.
In October 2018 the Ministry of Economy sold the assets of the Agricultural Corporation Belgrade (PKB), including 16,785 hectares of land in Palilula, Surčin and Zrenjanin, to Al Dahra of the United Arab Emirates for €105.055 million, with the livestock paid for separately.
Al Dahra was the only bidder and offered just above the starting price of €104.5 million, which was half the appraised value of about €208 million.
According to an Insajder investigation, ahead of the second tender the valuation was cut by almost a hundred million euros compared with the 2015 valuation, and the buyer's required annual revenue was raised from €50 million to €400 million. The Ministry of Economy refused to give Insajder the valuations.
In its report for 2018, Al Dahra recorded a profit of €106.3 million solely from the difference between the price it paid and the fair value of PKB's assets.
The law does not allow the sale of state-owned farmland. According to Insajder, in December 2015 the Government headed by Aleksandar Vučić instructed the State Attorney's Office to drop its lawsuits, so the land was registered as PKB's property and could be sold.
Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimović and Vučić defended the sale; Vučić said everything had been done in line with the law and that the tender proved there had been no corruption. Al Dahra says the privatisation was carried out in accordance with the law.
The sources found contain no data showing that any law enforcement body has examined the sale.
The state is now buying back part of the land it sold, for Expo and the National Stadium in Surčin. According to Radar, in 2025 it bought 26 plots, nearly 11 hectares, from Al Dahra at 720 dinars per square metre, about 13 times the price at which it sold them in 2018, which the State Attorney's Office confirmed.
In 2024 Al Dahra transferred part of the land in Surčin to New International Investments, a company from the Emirates, from which the state is also buying back plots.