US Company Denies Campaign to Defame Serbian PM

Continental Wind Partners (CWP) on Monday rejected claims that it was behind a letter criticising Vucic written by five US Congress members who alleged that the Serbian premier was linked to strategic company takeovers and deteriorating media freedom. 

Vucic told Belgrade's TV Pink on Saturday that "some people tried to racketeer me" after they failed to get permission to build wind farms in Serbia.

But CWP denied the Serbian premier's allegations.

"There is absolutely no substance to the allegations of CWP racketeering or engaging in any other illegal activity that appeared in today's Serbian media. CWP has always maintained the highest ethical standards," the company said in a statement.

The letter by the Congress members to US Vice-President Joseph Biden was made public just as Vucic was making a high-profile visit to Washington. Belgrade-based daily Blic has reported allegations that CWP was motived by its failure to obtain a privileged position on Serbia's renewable energy market.

But CWP denied "any involvement with, or even knowledge of, the letter addressed by members of the US Congress to US Vice-President Joe Biden".

Vucic has also alleged that a close relative of a Serbian government member was involved in what he said was a campaign against him.

But CWP said that Lidija Udovicki, the sister of Serbian government vice-president Kori Udovicki, left her role managing the wind farm project over two years ago.

"Lidija Udovicki resigned as the director of the wind power project, nearly three years ago, in January 2013.  Since then she has played no active role in its management, and her resignation occurred a full 15 months before Kori Udovicki joined the government in April 2014," it said.