Toriox, LLC was founded two months ago but it won an auction on August 1 and bought “Nova livnica” in Novi Beograd and 7.3 hectares of building land for EUR 43 million. The public auction was organized by the Deposit Insurance Agency (AOD). The unknown and recently founded company Toriox, an investigation conducted by VOICE has revealed, is a daughter company of a Cyprian company and it is one of legal entities that can be related to the Bogoljuba Karić’s family.

A person called Marinos Stylianides is the director of Holdings, LTD in Cyprus. This name, according to the official register of business in Cyprus, is mentioned as a manager of more than a hundred companies in that country. When reporting on the business connections of the Karić family and the family of the Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, European media mention Marinos Styliandes as the new owner of Cyprian company Dana holdings, which had belonged to the family of the Serbian businessman before the EU sanctions were introduced.

Toriox, LLC, daughter company of Toriox Holdings, won the auction and bought the real estate in question – “Nova livnica” foundry at Tošin bunar, along with the allotment previously featuring the IMT factory, whose assets were also partly sold at the auction organized by the Deposit Insurance Agency.

Both the assets of the foundry and IMT were sold as part of the bankruptcy proceedings initiated by Beobanka, JSC Belgrade, because of huge outstanding debts of these former industrial giants. The land that used to belong to IMT (at least 35 hectares) and the foundry (7.3 hectares) is considered to be the most attractive building land in Serbia. It was sold last year and this year through state agencies – the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency and the Deposit Insurance Agency.

As the advertisement for the public auction organized on August 1 states, the assets of “Nova livnica” from Novi Beograd were estimated to be worth EUR 30 million and the deposit was EUR 4.5 million. The bidding process started at EUR 26 million and the subject of the auction were 11 facilities (38,815 m2) and the building site (73,771 m2).

Toriox, LLC offered EUR 13 million more than the estimated value. The runner-up’s best offer was EUR 41 million, while the third placed bidder offered EUR 37 million.

According to the findings of VOICE, Toriox still has not completely paid up for the attractive real estate it owns. According to AOD regulations (Rulebook on cashing bankruptcy assets), every participant in a public auction is obliged to submit an application and pay a deposit of 15 percent of the estimated value. Also, they need to sign a consent form that they agree to lose the deposit if, as the auction winner, do not sign the contract or do not fully pay the total purchasing price before a deadline set by the Agency, i.e. if, as the runner-up, they do not respond to the Agency’s call to sign the contract and pay the amount they bid.

COMMERCIAL COURT STILL NOT INFORMED

The Commercial Court in Belgrade, which is in charge of the bankruptcy proceedings in question, responded to VOICE’s inquire and stated that they had not been informed about this purchase.

“The public auction was scheduled for August 1, 2022, but until this day the Commercial Court has not been informed about the outcome of the process, i.e. whether the real estate in question was sold or who it was sold to. Therefore, a suitable document which would confirm the purchase has not been issued”, states the reply of the Commercial Court in Belgrade sent on August 17.

We should not forget that, according to the Law on Bankruptcy Proceedings, the administrative receiver, in this case AOD, is obliged to inform the relevant court about the outcome of a public auction and singed purchasing contracts, i.e. that the full purchasing price has been paid. Based on this information, the court issues a document in which it confirms that the assets have been sold. The buyer then submits this document to the relevant cadaster office and transfers the assets to themselves.

According to the information available to VOICE, the purchase contract was signed on August 12, and the deadline for payment is 30 days from that day.

TEN RELATED COMPANIES, ONE MANDATAIRE AND FORMER PHONE NUMBER OF “POKRET SNAGA SRBIJE”

Since the beginning of last year, nine related companies have been registered in Serbia, including Toriox, LLC – Savski venac. Only one related company, Vesta international, LLC, was founded in 2005.

Toriox, LLC was registered on June 29, 2022 at the following address: Vojvode Milenka 42. A member of the company, i.e. the sole real owner is Toriox Holdings from Nicosia with the paid deposit of RSD 587,142. The main activity of Toriox, LLC is construction of residential and non-residential buildings. The director of this company, the current owner of “Livnica Beograd”, is Dejan Anđelković.

The documents that VOICE has access to show that the director of Toriox Holdings is Marinos Stylianides, which is confirmed by the certificate issued by the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry of Cyprus. The ministry states that Marinosa Styilianides is the only shareholder of Toriox Holdings. He owns 5,000 shares of this company and each share is worth one euro.

As it can be seen in the registration documents submitted, in June this year Marinos Stylianides authorized a lawyer from Belgrade, Vera Čabarkapa, to represent Toriox Holdings in Serbia. She was authorized to represent the Cyprian company in all legal matters in our country and to sign and authorize the decision to establish Toriox, LLC Belgrade.

She is also authorized to open a temporary account with Alta bank on behalf of Toriox Holdings from Cyprus, so that the founder could pay the share capital, which was done on June 29, when Toriox Holding executed a payment of EUR 5,000 from another account at the same bank for the purpose of establishing Toriox Belgrade. Dejan Anđelković, director of Toriox, LLC Belgrade also authorized Vera Čabarkapa to represent the company in all legal matters.

Vera Čabarkapa, known to the public as a former lawyer of the Karić family and one of the candidates on the electoral list of Pokret Snaga Srbije at the 2008 parliamentary elections, also represents the following companies and persons related to Toriox, LLC: Vesta International, Tesla park, Globtex group, Worbax, LLC, Nestech, LLC, Noldan, LLC, Prospelo, LLC, Shire, LLC and T1G1. All these companies, except T1G1 and Vesta International, share the same main activity – construction of residential and non-residential buildings.

The same address in Belgrade is shared by Toriox, Vesta International, Prospelo, Globtex, Shire… On the other hand, Prospelo, Globtex, Shire and Tesla park have the same phone number as Toriox. When we called the stated number, we were told that we had reached Tesla Park, and that it used to be a number of Bogoljub Karić’s party Pokret Snaga Srbije.

COMPANIES IN SERBIA, PARENT COMPANIES IN CYPRUS

All the aforementioned companies, except Vesta International, have a parent company in Cyrpus.

Tesla Park, one of the legal entities related to Toriox, was founded in April 2021. Originally, five people were listed as owners: a third was owned by Miodrag Stanković, director of Tesla Park, and Slobodan Rašić, respectively, while the final third was shared by Olivera, Miloš and Marjan Cenić. However, in February this year, Fariox Holdings from Cyprus was registered as the owner, with non-cash capital investment of RSD 423 million.

Let us remember that in 2018 national, as well as international media outlets, and the Karić family through social networks announced the beginning of construction of Tesla Park in Astana, Kazakhstan – a residential/business complex covering 1.5 million square meters. According to the Karić family, they project undertaken by their BK company in Astana was worth USD 1,200,000,000.

Another company related to Toriox, LLC, Vesta International, is one of the leading distributors of a large number of global top quality brands, according to the information on its website. The Jelena villa in Dedinje is owned by this company. Its true owner is Dejan Lazarević, while the Business Registers’ Agency also lists Goran Lazarević and Nikola Lazarević as owners. Dejan Lazarević and Goran Lazarević are Bogoljub Karić’s sons-in-law.

Globtex group, LLC, founded in July 2022 also has a Cyprian owner and the registered address shared with Toriox and Vesta International. Its director in Belgrade is Dejan Anđelković, who is also the director of Toriox, while the owner of Globtex Enterprises Limited is from Nicosia.

Dejan Anđelković is also the director of Prospelo, LLC and Shire, LLC. These companies also have Cyprian owners – Prospelo Holdings LTD and Shire Holdings LTD.

Worbax, LLC was registered on August 2, 2021, in Belgrade and it is owned by Cyprian Worbax Holdings LTD. On the same day, August 2 last year, another legal entity related to Toriox was registered. It is Nestech, LLC, whose owner is Nestech Holdings LTD from Cyprus. This company recently participated at the public auction of the assets of NAVIP, in bankruptcy (Mozer villa in Zemun, wine-making facilities, apartments…) and offered RSD 2.12.

Among the recently established companies related to Toriox is also Noldan, LLC., owned by Noldan Investments LTD, from Cyprus.

In February this year, a consulting agency T1G1 was registered in Kragujevac. I was owned by Termogama, LLC, but Riselo Holdings, LTD from Cyprus took over this company in April.

MARKET PRICE OF LAND IN NOVI BEOGRAD

Toriox, LLC paid the going market price for the land, i.e. the assets of “Livnica” in Novi Beograd.

As expert appraisers confirmed for VOICE, the market price of building land in that part of Belgrade is between EUR 50,000 and 70,000 for 100 m2. Those seven hectares are now worth EUR 43 million, we have been told by the experts.

Last month, the ABL Solvent company bought the IMT business complex nearby. ABL Solvent is newly established company, related to Alta bank, a recent investigation conducted by VOICE has shown,

The establishment of Toriox was also organized through Alta bank.

VOICE has sent questions to Toriox regarding the purchase of “Nova Livnica”, but we have still not received an answer.

Slađana Gluščević i Miloš Katić (VOICE)