Son of Fugitive Ex-President Builds Raspberry Fortune in Serbia

Speaking from Belgrade, where he found safe haven despite repeated demands from Montenegro for his extradition, 65-year-old Marovic, once a key ally of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, said that his family had been "brought to the brink" of financial collapse by the scandal that enveloped him in 2015 when he was arrested on corruption charges.

"My son was deprived of the apartment where he lived and he now has nowhere to live," Marovic said.

But an investigation by BIRN shows that Marovic's 37 year-old son Milos is far from hitting rock bottom. 

On the contrary, Milos Marovic is in possession of thousands of acres of land in Serbia with an estimated value in excess of one million euros. Until early 2020, he was also the  owner of an agribusiness with assets worth several hundred thousand euros, according to BIRN's findings, and is registered as living in a luxury apartment block in the elite Vracar district of the Serbian capital.

BIRN emailed questions to Milos Marovic via his lawyer, Radmila Krstic, who said he was "not currently able to answer" due to the fact a number of his relatives had tested positive for COVID-19. "We will contact you once the situation stabilises," Krstic wrote.

Montenegrian President Milo Djukanovic (L) Svetozar Marovic (C) and Filip Vujanovic former Montenegrin Prime Minister(R), 20. February 2001. Photo: EPA PHOTO EPA/MILOS BICANSKI

Serbian safe haven

Arrested in late 2015, Svetozar Marovic signed a plea deal and was sentenced in September 2016 to three years and 10 months in prison on a string of corruption charges linked to his hometown of Budva on the Montenegrin coast and ordered to repay roughly one million euros. Before he fled to Serbia, he had a year and 10 months left to...