The United States has imposed sanctions on nine associates of Serbian businessman Slobodan Tesic, described by the U.S. Treasury Department as being “among the biggest dealers of arms and munitions in the Balkans.”
In a statement released on December 9, the Treasury said the nine “have acted or purported to act for or on behalf” of Tesic, who has been on a U.S. sanctions list and has had his assets frozen since December 2017.
Tesic, who spent nearly 10 years with a United Nations travel ban for violating arms exports to Liberia, used bribes and financial incentives to secure arms contracts with various countries, according to the Treasury statement. He has also been involved in arms deals in Libya, where he reportedly traveled in 2013 despite being under the travel ban.
Tesic owns or has control of four companies — Partizan Tech LLC Belgrade-Savski Venac (Partizan Tech), Technoglobal Systems DOO Belgrade (Technoglobal), Charso Limited, and Grawit Limited, the statement said.
The nine Serbs who acted or intended to act, directly or indirectly, on behalf of Tesic are Goran Andric, Esad Kapidzic, Nebojsa Sarenac, Zoran Petrovic, Nikola Brkic, Milan Subotic, Zelimir Petrovic, Sreten Cvjetkovic, and Ljubo Maricic, it added.
In addition to the nine individuals, three other entities suspected of being related to Tesic were placed on the sanctions list: Cyprus-based Moonstorm Enterprises LTD, Tardigrade Limited, also Cyprus and Hong Kong-based Business Diversity Limited, which was used by Tesic in contracts denominated in euros to evade U.S. sanctions.
Under the sanctions, U.S. citizens are prohibited from engaging in transactions with individuals and entities named in the statement, and all assets and shares owned by them have been frozen.