Jared Kushner gets green light on $500m Serbia hotel project

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been given approval to build a $500m luxury hotel on a former defense ministry site in Serbia.

The deal, announced by the Serbian government, will see the bombed-out site of the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense in Belgrade, transformed into a hotel complex.

Bombs were dropped on the site in 1999 by NATO forces, backed by the US, during the Serbia-Kosovo war.

Goran Vesić, Serbia’s minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, said on Wednesday that he had chosen a “reputable American company” for the venture, referring to Affinity Partners owned by Mr Kushner.

«We will restore the building 25 years after it was destroyed in the bombing. In a quarter of a century, no one, before this government, thought of renovating the complex. When this area is revitalised, it will contribute to the development of Belgrade and Serbia,» Mr Vesić said in a statement.

“The economic progress in Serbia over the past decade has been impressive,” Mr Kushner said in a statement, released to The New York Times. “This development will further elevate Belgrade into the premier international destination it is becoming.”

Mr Kushner’s business practices have been called into question, however, since his father-in-law could once again become US president.

Mr Trump’s son-in-law, who is married to Ivanka Trump, set up his company after leaving his role at the White House in 2021. The government of Saudi Arabia is one of the major funders of Mr Kushner’s company, which could pose a conflict of interest should Mr Trump return to the presidency.

“It is a conflict of interest in the most stark sense: The president of the United States needs to be advancing the interest of the United States and not