After she divorced Belgrade\u2019s mayor Marija Mali lost custody of her children. Her complaint of assault and battery against her former husband was rejected and she lost her job. She insists he continues to send threatening messages.<\/b><\/p>\n
In an interview with KRIK which she regards as a way to defend herself, she talks about the dubious actions she was forced to take part in while married. For example, she was blackmailed to lie about her income to the Anti-Corruption Agency. He appointed her director of a branch office of an off-shore companies, without explaining what those firms were set up for. She now reveals details about the property holdings that Mali does not keep in his name, including his role in the case of Savamala. To back her claims Mali has correspondence, sealed statements, and receipts. <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n By Dragana Pe\u0107o and Stevan Doj\u010dinovi\u0107<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n One of the most embarrassing situations, Marija Mali said, was when her former husband made her sign a false asset disclosure for the Anti-corruption Agency that helped him conceal \u20ac95,000 \u2013 money whose origin he could not explain. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs a public official he was under the obligation to submit reports that did not only target him, but me as well. The agency saw the discrepancy between the amount of money that I spent and the salary that I received in Henkel.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Marija told KRIK this was the money Sini\u0161a Mali brought in cash which she then deposited to her bank account and later spent on family expenses using a bank card. The difference of \u20ac95,000 was incurred between 2013 and 2016. Sini\u0161a Mali has never explained where he got the cash. He would give her some of the money in euros and the other part in dinars. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I would credit my credit card, Sini\u0161a would give me money that I used to balance my credit and this is how the difference in spending compared to my income arose. I was the mother of three children and took care of them, the house, family, while he took care of the finances. He shared with me what he wanted to share. From the moment he started working for the government, I think he stopped sharing with me 90 percent of the things. This is why things between us turned for the worse. I no longer had an idea what Sini\u0161a was doing, who he was dealing with. I guess these were, how can I put it, business secrets that a wife should not know about. While he had his private firm, I knew more or less.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Since he could not explain the origin of those \u20ac95,000 Sini\u0161a Mali and his lawyer came up with an alibi, said Marija. They took advantage of the fact that her father had recently died. <\/span><\/p>\n Controversial Statement<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSini\u0161a and his lawyer Igor Isailovi\u0107 came up with the idea to make it look as if I discovered money after the death of my father which I then went on to use for my everyday needs. Isailovi\u0107 sent me an SMS: \u2019Marija, you need to sign a disclosure for the Anti-Corruption agency\u2019. I said: \u2019No way, I don\u2019t want to do these kind of things\u2019. I have this correspondence with him. Then I went to visit Sini\u0161a at his office and I told him: \u2019Don\u2019t do that\u2019, but he just used his negotiating skills to explain it to me how that was very important because of the children. That I have to protect children by doing that. I am, of course, mother before everything else.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n She showed KRIK reporters a certified statement with a notary seal. She appealed to the Anti-Corruption agency that a disclosure under her name was false, but officials have been avoiding meeting with her for months. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLast time I called was on Thursday and they told me no one was there and to call on Monday.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Hidden Property<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Marija said it was not easy dividing their joint property while divorcing because Mali does not keep all his property in his name. <\/span><\/p>\n They divided what was in Sini\u0161a\u2019s name \u2013 two joined apartments in an exclusive Belgrade complex Oaza went to Marija Mali, while he kept another apartment in Bulgaria. However, Sini\u0161a kept other apartments not in his name. <\/span><\/p>\n Marija Mali showed KRIK reporters three real properties her husband had access to \u2013 one more in the Oasis and two flats on the Kopaonik, an attractive location in the middle of a tourist center next to the ski runs. These apartments are not listed in his asset card on the website of the Anti-Corruption Agency. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor the third apartment in the Oasis, a deposit of \u20ac100,000 was placed in 2009. The apartment is not in Sini\u0161a\u2019s name, but he disposes of it. We paid bills for the apartment. I know that the apartment was under litigation, which is why it has not been paid in full so it cannot be titled and this is the reason why it was not disclosed to the Agency. He also did not disclose the apartments on Kopaonik.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Those are not deeded in the land register, thus it is not possible to establish who owns them. Marija showed KRIK reporters bills for utilities, maintenance and telephone in the name of Sini\u0161a Mali.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne apartment on Kopaonik is titled in the name of Sini\u0161a\u2019s father and we used it even before the children were born, sometime in 2004. I know that bills arrived and we paid them on time. Every winter we would spend at least a month there. All our things are there to this day. The other apartment on Kopaonik, even I don\u2019t know in whose name it\u2019s titled. He\u2019s owned it since he became mayor in 2014. Hence, it\u2019s not titled in anyone\u2019s name. I went to take care of it, to paint it, to bring in the furniture. When we were splitting property, Sini\u0161a kept it.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Marija Mali believes that Sini\u0161a owns more real properties that she does not know about. She said that only after KRIK published a story did she learn he had a part in buying 24 suits at the Bulgarian seaside. She knew only of one of the apartments, a place they\u2019ve been spending summer vacations since 2009. She recalls he once told her he planned to join the project, but later informed her that he had given up on it. A document KRIK reporters acquired shows that Mali, acting as a representative of two off-shore companies, bought these luxurious properties in Bulgaria worth around \u20ac5 million from Sr\u0111an Dabi\u0107 in mid-2012. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey had been friends from some time before that. Both of them worked in Lukoil and when Sr\u0111an Dabi\u0107 came up with the idea to build a complex on the Black Sea in Bulgaria, he offered Sini\u0161a partnership in the project. What I then heard from Sini\u0161a was that he refused it, he told me this personally. This was something I obviously should not have known about. As soon as we got married, he told me: \u201cFriends advised me never to deed anything in my name,\u201d so that he wouldn\u2019t need to share property with his wife, among other things. This is why he puts it in off-shore companies. None of the properties that we ever bought was in my name,\u201d Marija told KRIK.<\/span><\/p>\n Sini\u0161a Mali now demands a review of the properties \u2013 that the apartment in the Oasis he left to Mariji Mali be returned to him.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s trying to prove that he was legally uninformed and that he shouldn\u2019t have shared it with me at all. The case got of the ground and the first hearing has already taken place\u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n Off-Shore Business <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n So far, KRIK has uncovered several off-shore companies and secret transactions of the Belgrade\u2019s mayor. Some, such as off-shore \u201cBusby Financial Corp\u201d from the British Virgin Islands are also connected to Marija \u2013 she was director of their Serbian subsidiaries. Marija told KRIK that the purpose of this firm was to avoid paying taxes on the purchase of cars. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe family car we bought in July 2008 was under the firm\u2019s name. According to my then knowing, it was transferred to the company so that taxes would not be paid. It is an expensive car, Mercedes G class with seven seats. There\u2019s a period of time that needs to pass so that taxes would not be paid. Whenthat period expired, Sini\u0161a transferred the car in my name. It is disclosed to the Agency.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Marija\u2019s story is corroborated by a power of attorney that a firm \u201cBusby\u201d issued to Sini\u0161a\u2019s lawyer Igor Isailovi\u0107 authorizing him to conduct \u201clegal actions for the import of a car\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n Marija was also a director of the branch office of the off-shore company Alessio Investmenst Ltd. She had no idea what the company was used for. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThose were the transactions Sini\u0161a did that I did not understand. I literally just signed documents that he and his lawyer gave to me\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n Even though he is renowned as an expert in finance and business Sini\u0161a Mali often left traces on documents that connect him to dubious business. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe paid the least attention to himself. Maybe he did not go that deep into deals that were connected to him. He was more dedicated to others. For himself he thought everything was under control.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Guardian of Secrets <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Of the mayor\u2019s lawyer she said Isailovi\u0107 was her husband\u2019s closest associate and that he knew all Sini\u0161a Mali\u2019s business.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIgor used to work at Grand Coffee and they met when Sini\u0161a was in charge of the negotiations about the sale of the company. Isailovi\u0107 was just starting his career and Sini\u0161a took him under his wing and taught him business. After that, Isailovi\u0107 left a group of lawyers he had been working with and set up his own firm. From then on, there has been no deal that Sini\u0161a has ever done that he did not take part in it.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n After Mali came into power, Isailovi\u0107 became close to Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska Napredna Stranka). He supported the introduction of notary publics despite the protests of his colleagues. Isailovi\u0107 has set up a firm with Ana Brnabi\u0107, minister of state administration and local self-government, which KRIK recently revealed in a database of politicians\u2019 property.<\/span><\/p>\n Marija said she was also a privy to the case of the Compost Group. KRIK uncovered that the Mali family owned the firm that illegally acquired 10 hectares of the state land near Vr\u0161ac and started production of mushroom compost. The case is currently is before the Commercial Court in Pan\u010devo that is deliberating whether the land will be returned to the state. The firm\u2019s ownership Mali transferred in mid-2013 to Ivica \u0110oli\u0107, while Marija claims that Belgrade\u2019s mayor still owns it. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe firm was mainly managed by Sini\u0161a\u2019s brother. At some point Ivica \u0110oli\u0107 got involved as a person who was selling compost across Serbia. \u0110oli\u0107 is my godmother\u2019s husband and I recommended him. He\u2019s only a nominal owner, but the fact of the matter is that this is a Sini\u0161a\u2019s firm. From the moment when he joined politics, neither he nor his brother had time to take care of it. They\u2019ve totally neglected it, I think that the firm is on its hind legs. Our internal agreement was that when he sold \u2019Compost Group\u2019, that I would get half of the money. I lost hope that he would ever divide that.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Savamala<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Marija Mali said Sini\u0161a Mali changed a lot when he became mayor and a politically powerful person. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSomething drastically changed in him. He assaulted me and in that same month a demolition in Savamala occurred. A feeling of domination, authority and power peeked – \u2018Now I can do anything.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Right after the unlawful destruction of the buildings in Herzegova\u010dka Street in Savamala, Marija Mali said that her former husband boasted he took part in the demolition. He did it, allegedly, to clear the way for construction of a first-rate building. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn that moment, I was with my children in Montenegro. They had a few days of vacations. Elections were on April 24th. He arrived by plane the next day. He spoke of it as if it were the most ordinary thing. \u2018I had a problem, some (people) did not want to move out. I organized a clearing operation. People came in the middle of the night and broke a thing or two. I have done nothing terrible, but I just organized it myself, I did a raid.\u201d In his words, those were just some shacks, a shanty-town. At the moment no one had any idea that the news about it would strike like a bomb in media. It could not have been assumed that anyone would notice that the demolition had occurred. Perhaps while this election euphoria was going on, while the people celebrated the prime minister\u2019s victory that this event should have been sidelined. He did name the firm that did this, but I would not like to talk about it now. Sini\u0161a had a task to clear this space because he closed the deal with Arabs to built the Belgrade Waterfront there.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n She said Sini\u0161a told her the name of the firm that was knocking down building with bulldozers but she did not want to reveal this detail. <\/span><\/p>\n A Judge is Mine <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The main reason Marija Mali agreed to speak to KRIK about her former husband was the court proceedings that led to her losing custody over their children. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI lost custody of three children in the most brutal manner. I turned to many. I have not encountered any help, protection, a piece of advice. Wherever I turn up, either they will not receive me or simply no one wants to hear me out. I turned to the prime minister, the welfare and several other addresses.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n After a no-fault divorce in November 2015, Marija and Sini\u0161a Mali continued to give public appearances as if they were still married. She says that she was forced to this. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe fact of the matter is that for almost a year after divorce he behaved as if we were still married. Not even the children should have known. We played an ideal couple in public,\u201c said Marija Mali.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, she filed a criminal complaint on assault charges. She says he attacked her in her apartment \u201cin front of the children and a woman who then worked for us.\u201c At the same time, Sini\u0161a Mali filed a complaint against her for false reporting. Marija\u2019s criminal complaint was thrown out and it\u2019s not known what happened with his. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to put up with violence and I turned to a Center for Social Work where they told me that I needed to file a criminal complaint against a violent partner. And still he continued to threaten and would say \u2019Don\u2019t do that. If you do it, I will destroy you and take the children away from you\u2019. Since I filed a complaint anyway, he did everything, using all available means and got custody over the children\u2026as a revenge.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n According to the Belgrade mayor\u2019s former wife, she received all kinds of threats from him. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe did not make it clear then that he would reveal something in media, but he told me \u2019You stand no chance. The judge is mine. A special prosecutor advised me what to do.\u2019 The woman who witnessed the violence would not testify on my behalf, but on his, which means that I have no witness\u2026\u2019You\u2019d go to prison for three years because of false accusations for violence\u2019 and \u2018You stand no chance\u2019\u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n Marija Mali said that the hardest thing for her is that their three children don\u2019t live with her anymore. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDaddy is with them the least and those children are alone, totally alone. I see them four hours a week and every other weekend. And now he goes into the other extreme to brutally show me how powerful he is. \u2018Didn\u2019t I tell you so? Why did you go against me? Do you see now what has happened to you?\u2019 But, he does not understand the trauma that the children are going through and that he\u2019s harming them. In fact, he used the children as a means to an end. The end was to destroy me.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n Mayor Mali has refused to be interviewed by KRIK for more than a year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After she divorced Belgrade\u2019s mayor Marija Mali lost custody of her children. Her complaint of assault and battery against her former husband was rejected and she lost her job. She insists he continues to send threatening messages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3784,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en","category-investigations","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n