(Cyprus Mail Online) – A Serbian arms dealer recently placed on a US blacklist has been linked to two Cyprus-based companies through which he allegedly negotiated the sale of weapons.
Slobodan Tesic, who spent nearly a decade on the United Nations Travel Ban List for violating UN sanctions against arms exports to Liberia, was included on a ‘malign actors’ list issued by the US government last month.
US President Donald Trump’s Executive Order – ‘Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption’ – issued on December 21, 2017 named 13 people whose assets Washington is freezing within US jurisdictions.
“Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the US financial system. The Treasury is freezing their assets and publicly denouncing the egregious acts they’ve committed, sending a message that there is a steep price to pay for their misdeeds,” US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said at the time.
According to the US Treasury Department press release, Tesic “is among the biggest dealers of arms and munitions in the Balkans… In order to secure arms contracts with various countries, Tesic would directly or indirectly provide bribes and financial assistance to officials. Tesic also took potential clients on high-value vacations, paid for their children’s education at western schools or universities, and used large bribes to secure contracts.”
The press release added that Tesic owns or controls two Serbian companies, Partizan Tech and Technoglobal Systems DOO Beograd, as well as “two Cyprus-based companies, Grawit Limited and Charso Limited. Tesic negotiated the sale of weapons via Charso Limited and used Grawit Limited as a mechanism to fund politicians.”
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