Dejan Paljević, a native of Sremska Mitrovica, is former electrician, security guard or retireedepending on which of his five profiles on the social network Facebook you open.
At the same time, Paljević, although it is not written on any of his profiles, is a director, owner, legal representative or liquidation administrator in 1,187 companieswhich makes him the first on the list of directors with the largest number of companies in his portfolio, publicly available data show.
And he is not the only one. Shopping indebted and “dead” companies of the real owners in Serbia, the business has been in business for a decade and there are at least a dozen “Paljevics”.
By searching the Internet, you can find agencies that buy blocked companies, and ads that offer the same can be found on Halo Ads. In the shortest possible time, we could recount them in these two sentences: Your company with debts is our concern from now on. Everything we do is in accordance with the law.
Since 2019, when the research network BIRN did the first research on the trade in indebted and failed companies that avoid paying obligations to the state, workers and creditors, the state has done little to suppress it. If it were otherwise, the directors who were identified then would not have several times more companies under their wing today.
And that not everything is according to the law, is also evidenced by the fact that these people were mostly investigated by the police and the prosecutor’s office, that is, there are investigative procedures against them, which was confirmed for Forbes Serbia by the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. However, business is still apparently booming.
Forbes Serbia brings the story of the first five such directors in Serbia. How many companies do they have, how does this elaborate scheme actually work, are they under the surveillance of investigative authorities or do they carry out their work unhindered.
1. Dejan Paljević – 1,187
From 2019 to today, Paljević has increased the number of companies in which he is or was a director, owner or both from 195 to almost 1,200.
Publicly available data also show that among these companies there are approx 460 deletedwhile the rest are either in the process of liquidation or are blocked for many years.
The first basic public prosecutor’s office in Belgrade does not have information on whether Dejan Paljević is at large, but since he has increased the number of companies by two in the last two weeks, it could be concluded that he is.
On the other hand, they say for Forbes Serbia that “before this prosecution in during two proceedings against the suspect Dejan Paljević and that because of the criminal offense under the article 225 of the Criminal Code and due to the criminal offense referred to in the article 138 of the Criminal Code“.
They are, namely, tax evasionwhich is regulated by Article 225, but also endangering security, which is regulated by Article 138.
In other words, Paljević is clearly accused of having tried to avoid paying taxescontributions and other prescribed duties, i.e. provided false information in order to use the acquired income on the basis of which the amount of those obligations is determined.
The law also stipulates in this article that if it is a question of tax evasion exceeding one million dinars, the threatened punishment is imprisonment for a period of one to five years plus a fine. If that amount is more than five million, the prison sentence increases to eight, and if it is more than 15 million, then it is from three to 10 years.
In another case, Paljević is suspected of being threatened someone’s safety and that “by threatening to attack the life or body of that person or someone close to him”.
2. Robert Feješ – 733
Robert Feješ is the current or former owner or director of 733 companies.
According to publicly available data, the director is in 651 company, while the owner is in 402.
To avoid confusion, in some it performs both functions at the same time. The largest number of these companies, as in the case of Paljević, is blocked or in the process of liquidation.
Feješ could be considered one of a pioneer in the business of taking over indebted companiestogether with his sister Isabella.
According to the information from the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office, there are currently two proceedings against him. These are criminal offenses from Article 224 of the Criminal Code, as well as from Article 208, paragraph 4. These are criminal offenses of illegal production or processing of goods that are prohibited or for which it is necessary to obtain the approval of the competent authorities.
In the second case, the word is on fraud, that is, obtaining property benefits by causing damage which exceeds the amount of 1.5 million dinars.
The threatened sentence in this case is from two to 10 years in prison.
As BIRN wrote, Feješ was previously under investigation for similar crimes.
3. Nenad Stanimirov – 653
The company BG KING express is bankruptand the bankruptcy proceedings were opened in July 2021.
According to publicly available data, this company has a tax debt of 132.6 million dinars and its sole owner is Nenad Stanimirov, another from the list of directors with the largest number of companies in Serbia.
In addition to BG KING express, Stanimirov has more 652 companies in which he is the owner, director or legal representative.
He is also being prosecuted under Article 225 of the Criminal Code, that is, he is suspected of the crime tax evasion.
4. Goran Goce Proev – 389
Macedonian citizen Goran Goce Proev has increased the number of companies in which he is a director or legal representative by several dozen in the past month, according to publicly available data.
He was the founder and owner of the company Ceprovex, which Forbes Serbia recently wrote about, and among the 389 companies that currently have in their portfolio 278 are blocked, and 56 are registered as active companies in the register of the Agency for Business Registers.
Unlike the others, there are no proceedings against this director in the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office.
5. Izabela Feješ – 220
Until July 2022, when this company was deleted from the register of companies, Izabela Feješ was the owner of the company World business solutionfounded in January 2018 to provide consulting services.
As BIRN wrote at the time, the mentioned company was engaged in buying out, i.e. taking over indebted or blocked companies, and as they explained to the media at the time, that business was completely legal and “enjoys the support of competent tax and other state authorities”.
Izabela Feješ currently has 220 companies in her hands, and according to the prosecutor’s office, she is being prosecuted for fraud, i.e. under Article 208, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code.
Everything according to the law
And while World Business Solution has been deleted from the register, there are still companies on the market today, more precisely consulting agencies that buy blocked and indebted companies, sometimes offer them for sale, and sometimes just mediate between sellers and buyers of these sought-after “goods” on the market.
Ads for the buyout of these firms can even be found on the Halo ad pages. In the ad signed with “third generation” and titled as “company transfer service from you to our person”, it is stated that they buy out companies, entrepreneurial shops or partnerships.
“Do not worry about whether your company is under blockade or liquidation, because if you contact us, from the day the change is submitted to the APR, all that concern absolutely passes to us and we are the only ones responsible for your company.” it is stated in this ad with a note that the entire business is in accordance with legal regulations.
By the way, these ads, which can be found on the pages of the Sasomanga and Buy and Sell platforms, have in common that they insist on compliance with the law, that is, legal business.
“We buy a company that you don’t need, that is blocked or owes to suppliers, the tax authorities… With compliance with legal regulations and an affordable fee at the expense of the client”, is an example of such an ad.
An elaborate scheme
Compensation is certainly a given in this business, but the logic is reversed. Instead of the buyer paying the seller, the seller of the blocked business actually pays its new owner.
The tariff, as BIRN previously wrote, ranges from 300 to more than 1,000 euros, depending on the size of the problem, but also on whether the seller insists that the buyer be a person who is not on the list of “denounced” or not. If it is important to him that his company does not fall into the hands of already targeted customers in the media, which Forbes also mentioned in the text, then he will have to be ready to pay a slightly higher price than the standard tariff for that.
The core of the problem, however, is the same everywhere. These are companies that have had their PIB taken away due to debts or some other offense, are blocked due to forced collection or the liquidation process has begun. They are certainly debtors to the state, creditors, and sometimes also to workers based on unpaid wages or contributions.
In order to avoid paying these obligations, and at the same time free themselves from the company, the owners resort to transferring ownership shares to the above-mentioned directors and pay them a certain fee for that. By getting rid of these companies, they also get rid of their debts, which allows them to establish a new company unencumbered by ballast. Most often, before handing over such a company, they take almost all the assets out of it, so that only debts remain on its account.
The motive of the former owners, therefore, is clear. For a few hundred euros that they will give to Paljević or someone like him, the companies are in debt.
And what, on the other hand, is Paljević’s motive? Is it just the few hundred euros he gets from each owner from whom he “bought” the company, or is it also about some other interest? Is it possible that a 60-year-old security guard is behind this “business plan” that has gained momentum in Serbia in recent years, or is it someone much more skilled and influential who actually takes the cream while Paljević and others like him only receive a portion of the money? earned in that way.
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