Bogoljub Karić
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Bogoljub Karić listen (Serbian Cyrillic: Богољуб Карић) is a businessman and politician from Serbia.
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[edit] Youth
Born on January 17, 1954 in Peć (Kosovo, Serbia, then part of SFRY) to parents Janićije Karić and Danica Kuzmanović, Bogoljub completed elementary (grades 1-8) and high school (grades 9-12) in his hometown. He graduated in Geography from Prirodno-matematički fakultet (Science college) in Pristina. He got his Master's Degree in economy at University of Niš.
Bogoljub Karic grew up in a large family of 5 children. He has three older brothers: Sreten, Dragomir, and Zoran, as well as a younger sister Olivera.
[edit] Business
In 1971 he opened (together with his brothers), a first private factory behind the Iron Curtain. The company grew and he is now (partial) owner of some press, telecommunications companies, agricultural companies... With his brothers, he is a joint owner of the BKTV (Braća Karić, the Karić brothers television) network in Serbia and the EUnet internet service provider. He recently sold the Mobtel mobile phone network to Austrian Investor Martin Schlaff, who was probably buying the company for the Austrian Telecom company Mobilkom. He also opened an university Braća Karić University in Belgrade in 1994. A couple of years later, he opened a similar university in Moscow. He also founded Karić Foundation, a charity and educational foundation. It is a well known fact that he gave a lot of money to charity through that foundation.
Currently, Bogoljub Karic is under investigation by the Serbian authorities for breaking contract with the government. The damage made to the Serbian state was estimated to $400 mil. Bogoljub Karić sold a company to Austrian communication group. The media has stated that his new location is Russia.
Karić was a candidate in the Serbian presidential election, 2004. He finished third with 19.3% of the vote. In the second round he supported Boris Tadić, who became president after the second round. He is the leader of Pokret Snaga Srbije (translated as Power of Serbia Movement), a party that claims they will return "true Serbian values". At beginning of 2006 he was forced to flee the country because a Serbian court issued a warrant against him. Most opposition leaders and magazines have stated that Bogoljub was forced to flee the country as he was becoming a big threat to the current ruling government as his political party has been growing and reached a 20% margin in the polls. And the current government and its Tycoons have pinpointed him as a threat to their own plans to buys Serbian comapnies and resources for a much lower value, and so they have used every means possible get Bogoljub out of the country. There are rumors that BK will be back in Serbia as soon as they announce ellections which are long overdue in Serbia.
[edit] Karic family
Bogoljub Karic rarely fails to mention his own family in public appearances, often openly using it as a political prop.
[edit] Immediate family
- Milanka Babić - wife of Bogoljub Karić. Born in Peć and raised, as she says "in patriotic spirit and traditional system of values". She finished Law School and is one of the founders as well as the president of Karić Foundation. Still, her formal titles say little about her actual role. On the other hand, public frivolity that has over the years become a Karic family staple didn't pass her by either. Funded by her husband's money, she recorded a compact disk Bistrik, singing Serbian traditional roots-folk songs. She and Bogoljub have 4 children - a son and three daughters:
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- Nebojša Karić (born in 1979).
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- Nadežda Neda Karić (1981).
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- Jelena Karić (1982).
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- Danica Karić (1985).
[edit] Extended family
[edit] Sreten Karić
He is the oldest brother of Bogoljub Karić. He has three children with his current wife and a son from a previous marriage. Together with his current wife he reportedly runs the Karić family businesses in Cyprus.
- Dubravka Safner - Sreten's first wife. Not much is known about her other than her Croatian ethnicity which is a piece of information Bogoljub occasionally brought up in various political soundbites as supposed proof of his family's openness to different nationalities. She gave birth to Sreten's first son:
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- Goran Karić (born 1974), recently married Ivana Miskovic, the only child of another Serbian tycoon Miroslav Miskovic.
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- Slavica Grbović - Sreten's current wife. According to her official bio she performed various non-specified duties in the Karic Foundation until 1992, which is when Sreten and her moved to Cyprus. She gave birth to 3 children:
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- Bojan Karić (1979) - His claim to fame was the on-again off-again relationship with turbofolk star Jelena Karleusa. They ended up marrying in September 2004 but got divorced only 4 months later. The entire episode inspired a tabloid feeding frenzy in Serbia, especially when reports of Karleusa being despised by Bojan's mother Slavica hit the press. The whole thing went on for so long that even the family patriarch Bogoljub felt obliged to chime in on the issue.[1]
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- Gordana Karić (1982)
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- Stefan Karić (1985)
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[edit] Dragomir Karić
Another Bogoljub Karić's brother and one of his closest associates. He is the driving force behind the operations in Russia, and has made a fortune in Russia after moving there in 1987. Married, has four children and seven grandchildren.
- Hafa Mulić - Dragomir's wife. (Bosniak) She was a kafana singer in Livno, Bosnia. Two of them met when Dragomir and his brothers performed there and persuaded her to join their band. She later married Dragomir, released a few CDs, and gave birth to 4 children:
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- Sasa Karić (born in 1971)
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- Simon de Karić (1974) - born as Simon Karic he legally changed his name to Simon de Karic. He lives between Toronto and Miami, and according to his family works in the movie industry there. Apparently, his first production was 2004 Canadian movie "Some Things That Stay". However, his contribution to the production is not exactly clear since the movie's IMDb page doesn't list him.[2] In Serbia, he was briefly noted for his reported infatuation with turbofolk star Ceca. Apparently, in February 2004 he was so smitten after seeing her at Zvezdara teatar restaurant that he requested to buy every single thing in the room she touched that night.[3] After finding out Ceca went on vacation to Mount Kopaonik later that week, he reportedly cancelled his trip back to North America and rented a helicopter to take him to the mountain in an effort to woo her.[4] For her part, Ceca was not very receptive to his advances.
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- Jugoslav Karić (1979)
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- Danijela Karić (1984)
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[edit] Zoran Karić
One more Bogoljub Karić's sibling who runs his brother's business in Vienna. Also married and has four children. Some of his time is spent in London. His wife claims to be a talented fashion designer.
[edit] Olivera Karić
The only sister of Bogoljub Karić. Married, has three children. In businesses of the Karić family she works in the Karić Foundation and in BK University. Since 1995 she lives between London and Belgrade.
