The Serbian government has dismissed the general manager of state telecom company PTT Srbija after he signed a deal to increase state held equity in the local mobile phone operator Mobtel.

Although Srdjan Blagojevic said that the government gave its consent for the deal, the state claims that he was not authorised to sign the agreement. BK Group, owned by Bogoljub Karic, earlier said it gave 6% of its shares in Mobtel to PTT Srbija, reducing its stake from a majority to 45%.

The government has long been claiming that BK Group, which co-founded Mobtel with PTT Srbija in 1995, never fully paid the agreed $67m for its 51% stake and that the state telecom company should have more than 49% of shares.

(NewsBase 16.ix.03)