19.05.2011 Novi magazin 3

And from the prince of Kuwait - a priceless watch

And from the prince of Kuwait - a priceless watch
This and another 500 gifts are being kept under lock and key on the fourth floor of the Government building in Nemanjina street number 11. Reporters from the New Magazine had the rare opportunity to see this unique treasure.

When the security officers of the senior statesman of Kuwait brought a gift to the Prime minister and his wife, they had a talk with the officials of the Serbian Government which took two luxury boxes. In an unofficial conversation they exchanged their experiences about working for the state, the head of security says: “I drive a Porsche, a Harley and own a villa”. You can only assume that the gift was valuable. It was a set of the prestigious “Corona” watches.

The government officers are responsible for its property, so they surf the Internet…and…the women’s watch is 4000 Euros, and the male cannot be found because it is not accessible for sale. Who knows how much it costs…Maybe even double the women’s one, or even a lot higher…

This and another 500 gifts are being kept under lock and key on the fourth floor of the Government building in Nemanjina street number 11. They are brought by guests, foreign statesmen and officials during their visits to the Serbian Government.

The most of the gifts were for the Prime ministers. It is precisely defined by the Rules on official’s gifts, which was enacted by the Agency for the fight against corruption, what exactly can be the gift and what is its destiny. The rules are more than clear.

Even if there is an inscription for the statesman to whom the gift was given to, the gift stays public property. No matter how much is the gift beautiful or irresistible, the statesman has to part form it :

”The protocol and appropriate gifts which exceed the amount of five per cent of the monthly salaries, without taxes and fees, in the Republic of Serbia, or gifts whose estimated value exceed the amount of an average salary, without the taxes and fees, become public property”.

That means that everything over 1700 dinars has to end up on a shelf in the room on the fourth floor. Until now there has been no corruption with the gifts for senior statesmen, like the Prime minister, which they receive from other statesmen.

When you enter the treasury room the first thing that hits you is the colors. Colors of the presents and from the yellow stickers with numerals that are hanging from every present. On most of the gifts, The stickers are barely hanging on and can fall off at any moment.

So even if you get the urge to touch a present, or take a closer look you back of at the last moment in fear of the sticker falling off…we wouldn’t want to mix up the presents. At the far side of the room is a table for indexing, and behind it, towards the window, a pile of neatly stacked boxes.

Opened, listed, closed, and marked with yellow stickers. For these presents there is no room on the shelves.

We walk around in a circle around the shelves. We ask for the first thing that catches our eye…What is it and where does it come from?

So, simply irresistible, marvelous! At first we don’t recognize the mirror because it is it’s back is turned towards us, tricked up with purple stones. On the other side, the mirror has a silver rim, like embroidery.



author: Ivana Knežević source: Novi magazin
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