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Reporting on police repression of corruption in Serbia October 2019-March 2020: predominantly small and mid-level cases

preugovor podaciLaw enforcement informed the public about number of arrests, mostly covering small and mid-level corruption cases, but also few where the illicit gain or rank of perpetuator was higher. prEUgovor member Transparency Serbia prepared an overview of the reported repressive actions during the last six months.

The Government web-based platform includes a section titled Stop Corruption. This section contains only information on police actions. In the last six months (October 1st 2019 - March 31st 2020) they have published 26 news items on various types of misconduct, including corruption-related offences. Similar, but not exactly the same news are published in the form of press release by the Ministry of Interior.

Here is an overview of actions that have been reported:

  • Arrest of police officer for abuse of office by allowing an eighty-year-old citizen to move in a public place despite the measure of self-isolation imposed upon him upon his return to the country. (link)
  • The suspects, who are in senior positions in the Criminal Police Section of the Jagodina Police Directorate, are charged with failing to take measures and actions within their jurisdiction in September 2019 to cover a crime (unauthorized person with information about the persons checked in the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for EUR 1,000). (link)
  • Five people involved in the case of rigging the documents on executions prof procurement of work contract. (link)
  • An employee of the Aleksinac Basic Court is charged with failing to submit, from 2016 to 2019, 14 final and enforceable judgments for enforcement to the prison sentence. In the name of unpaid fines on final and enforceable judgments in which absolute statute of limitations has occurred, he was suspected of damaging the Serbian budget for 575,000 dinars. (link)
  • Suspect organized a procedure for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship for 50 persons on the basis of forged documents for which he requested and received a total of 1,479,148 dinars. He then gave an employee of the City Administration of Pirot, € 2,500 to issue false documents. (link)
  • Three arrested people, former assistant mayor of Zrenjanin in charge of investments and responsible persons in several companies in relation to the Zrenjanin water and Sewerage system. (link)
  • An assistant public executor in Zajecar claimed from the debtor, after completing the inventory of things worth 225,000 dinars, 300 euros in order not to perform official action based on the Conclusion on Enforcement. (link)
  • Criminal charges against three persons for the criminal offense of Public Procurement Abuse (damage app. 10.000 EUR). (link)
  • Priboj Hospital Physician was arrested on suspicion of committing the offense of trafficking in influence and bribery, while five persons were apprehended by a competent prosecution for suspicion of committing a bribe. (link)
  • An employee of Nis Clinical Center was arrested on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of Receiving Bribes for trading with patients’ personal data. (link)
  • Six people were arrested on suspicion of committing an abuse of office in co-perpetration, as well as one suspected of forgery of an official document. They were employees of EPS who enabled work of mini-hydroplant without all proper licences. (link)
  • Four people were arrested for suspicion of multiple corruption offenses in public procurement procedures, causing damage to the Lajkovac municipality by more than RSD 10,000,000. (link)
  • Four people have been arrested on suspicion of multiple corruption offenses (labour inspectors and their clients) (link)
  • Thirteen people suspected that by adjusting the documentation and falsifying the documents for the procurement of specialized equipment, they procured it at higher prices than the market ones, thus damaging the Public Enterprise "Directorate for Construction and Public Utilities" of Gadzin Han Municipality in the amount of 10,642,578. RSD. (link)
  • Three people from Prijepolje were arrested on suspicion of misconduct and damage to the budget of municipality for RSD 1,209,092. (link)
  • Charges were filed against two people on suspicion of misconduct. They signed and authenticated the records on the allegedly passed exams for "B" and "C" category to the candidates of the Trstenik School of Transport, although they did not even attend the exams. (link)
  • Forester in the Pirot Forest Farm and receiving 350 euros in order not to file a complaint against person for illegally cutting a state forest in an area of a village in the vicinity of Pirot. (link)
  • Four people have been arrested on suspicion of committing a number of corrupt offenses, damaging more than two million dinars to the public company "Komunalac" from Kladovo. (link)
  • Thirteen people were arrested on suspicion of committing multiple corrupt offenses that harmed the Kragujevac Clinical Center. (link)
  • Several persons have been arrested on suspicion of committing corrupt offenses in connection with a B and C driving license. (link)
  • Police officers at the Backa Palanka Police Station were arrested on suspicion of committing criminal offenses of bribery and abuse of office. (link)
  • Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of multiple corruption offenses, while one is wanted (forging of documents on origin of goods related to the re-export to Russia). (link)
  • Five people have been arrested on suspicion of committing a number of corrupt offenses, including for public procurement abuse (over one million EUR value of illicit gain). (link)
  • The suspected abusers of the position of the responsible person were arrested for forging of documents about conducted works. (link)