Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, has reportedly withdrawn from a high-profile real estate project in Serbia following mounting political controversy and legal action linked to the site.
The project involved plans to redevelop a central Belgrade location that once housed the Yugoslav army’s General Staff headquarters, a complex badly damaged during NATO’s 1999 air campaign.
Media reports say Kushner stepped back after prosecutors moved to indict senior Serbian officials over decisions that stripped the site of its protected cultural status.
Serbia’s government had approved a long-term lease last year with Affinity Global Development, a company linked to Kushner, to transform the area into a large-scale complex featuring a luxury hotel, residential units, offices and retail space.
The deal sparked sustained protests, with critics arguing the site should be preserved as a memorial to the NATO bombing.
A spokesperson for Affinity Partners told the New York Times that the firm decided to abandon the project to avoid deepening divisions within Serbian society, adding that the move was made out of respect for Belgrade and its citizens.
According to Reuters, Serbia’s organised crime prosecutor has filed charges against Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic, a ministry official and the head of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, alleging abuse of office and document forgery in relation to the site’s reclassification. Selakovic has denied the accusations, and there has been no suggestion of wrongdoing by Kushner or his company.
The redevelopment, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, had been defended by President Aleksandar Vucic as an investment opportunity for the capital.
Following Kushner’s withdrawal, Vucic said Serbia had lost a major investor and promised accountability over the controversy.
Image credit: Maksim Samuilionak
I wonder if he is linked to the rebuild of Gaza or the Ukraine, just wondering.
Devils advocate