Protected Belgrade site targeted for Trump Tower: Revealed, Serbian ruler’s secret role in illegal effort to help Trump business

Pressure over a protected site

The proposed development centred on the General Staff building, a former Yugoslav defence ministry in central Belgrade. It is regarded as an architectural landmark and an emblem of resistance to the Nazis, and was bombed by Nato forces in 1999 during the campaign over Kosovo.

Vučić had reaffirmed the building’s protected status in 2016. Two people familiar with a later meeting said he wanted heritage official Đukanović to withdraw that protection, with an unspecified foreign investor interested in the property.

The sources said Vučić spoke harshly to Đukanović and another heritage official, calling them lazy and incompetent. They understood his message as an ultimatum: comply or resign.

Officials refused to comply

According to an indictment summary of testimony, Finance Minister Mali later urged Đukanović and Belgrade heritage chief Olivera Vučković to cancel the site’s protected status. The summary does not mention the earlier meeting with Vučić, but indicates the issue had already been raised.

The two officials refused because they believed legal requirements had not been met. Mali then told them to resign, and they did. Both later confirmed the account; Đukanović said she would not comment while court proceedings continued.

Project and criminal case

Vučić had hosted Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner in Belgrade as plans took shape for a $500m hotel and residential tower. A leaked agreement showed Serbian authorities granting Kushner’s company a 99-year lease on the site at no charge.

The criminal case is believed to be the first linked to the Trump family’s global business campaign. Critics have described that campaign as pay to play, alleging that benefits are available to people who enrich the family and its associates.

Representatives of the Trump family and Kushner said they had no role in removing the building’s protected status. They also called it false to claim the Belgrade project was part of a pay-to-play scheme.

Reactions in Serbia

Vučić said Serbia had lost an exceptional investment and promised to hold those responsible for the loss accountable. Environmental activist Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, who revealed the agreement, objected that the country was not the president’s private property.