>>/84490/
 >>/84516/

“The long con: The Daily Maverick’s [Serbian] ’mafiaBrkic’ connections and currencies” – Part 1

https://falcons.org.za/insight/the-long-con-the-daily-mavericks-mafiabrkic-connections-and-currencies-bae160f2-fd40-4f10-9e35-53efaa97d6eb/
November 15, 2021

‘The Maverick Magazine advertisers, realising the sudden lack of value, pulled the plug and the wheels came off. When the liquidation was over, investors had lost millions of rand. This included millions of tax-payer funds, lost through an unpaid loan from the IDC.’

--ON THE face of it, publishing platform, The Daily Maverick, is a stronghold of independent reporting and South Africa’s (self-appointed) truth investigators. However, look under the hood and the picture is not quite as they would have us all believe, with a series of direct and indirect links to South Africa’s criminal underworld.-- These connections and cash flows have been heavily guarded and kept secret … until now.

According to a report by the NPO, Forensics For Justice, Branislav “Branko” Brkic’s previous misadventure into publishing, The Maverick Magazine, collapsed in ruins, after a low-cost airline stopped distributing its magazines, free of charge, to passengers. “This took the magazine’s circulation from above 20 000 per month to below 5 000 per month, making it the most expensive print advertising in South Africa.

“The Maverick Magazine advertisers, realising the sudden lack of value, pulled the plug and the wheels came off. When the liquidation was over, investors had lost millions of rand. This included millions of tax-payer funds, lost through an unpaid loan from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC),” reads the report.

On August 23, 2019 the chief executive of the IDC, Tshokolo Nchocho told Parliament that in 2006, IDC provided a funding amount of R4 million to Business Century Publishing, which owned The Maverick Magazine … Only R832 500 was repaid. The company ceased operation and was liquidated in or about October 2008.

Today, Brikic’s new baby, The Daily Maverick, is registered as a private (profit-making) company, which under the guise of altruistic reporting, encourages “members” “join” the platform at a cost of R200 a month. Apart from being able to comment on the published stories, it’s not clear what other benefits a “member” enjoys – if any.

Technology entrepreneur Alan Knott-Craig Jr is credited with being The Daily Maverick’s first investor. He also introduced Brkic to Charalambous, whose business connections include the likes of Varejes, and Stemmet, both of whom are closely linked to underworld characters Agliotti and corrupt (now deceased) former chief of police, Selebi.

The Daily Maverick regularly trumpets its moral high ground stance – to anyone who will listen and anyone it can convince to “support” them and the exposure of the “truth” – their version of it anyway.