Milorad Grcic he is currently at work, he is not in custody, he is at the job he was assigned back in 2016 when he was appointed as director Electric utilities of Serbia, and that job from the beginning was that, when the time came, he would be arrested for embezzlement and embezzlement in EPS, and that the other players participating in his shelling would be saved. This is how lawyer Čedomir Stojković comments on the arrest of Grčić and 14 other suspects for financial malfeasance in EPS.
"It is quite clear that he himself does not have the intellectual capacity to devise any kind of money draw." At the same time, the entire team that is related to EPS - those who participate in tenders, intermediary companies, which import electricity from Romania and export it to Bulgaria - does not miss a hair on their head, nor does anyone pay close attention to them.
That's why Grcic is "at work" and doing what he was designed for nine years ago, says Stojković for "Vreme".
"Impressed by Grcic's ignorance"
Stojković says that he met Grčić not long after he was appointed acting director of EPS in 2016, because at that time he represented the company in a dispute with EPS.
He was "impressed by Grcic's ignorance". He expected at least that, since he owns a bakery, he "has some manners", but the opposite turned out to be the case.
"Shortly after Grcic's appointment, the story began to circulate that he was appointed to the head of EPS for one reason only - so that when the time comes, he will be arrested for embezzlement and embezzlement, and that the other players participating in the corruption of EPS will be saved. "Somebody planned that nine years ago, and that's why a man with no education was appointed to the position of EPS director," says Stojković.
"Vučić in a difficult defensive"
Commenting on why it was decided to start the arrests of corruption suspects right now, Stojković emphasizes that the reason for this is that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is "on the defensive".
"Vučić has been on the political offensive since 2010." Students and their protests forced this government to be on the defensive for the first time. The goal of these arrests is not for Vučić to convince those who are protesting and his political opponents that he is fighting against corruption, but to show his electorate that he is fighting against corruption, should he not be detained because it has started to fall out for the first time," says Stojković.
He assesses that those who think in opposition think that these arrests are "ridiculous", because they are not a fight against corruption, but, on the contrary, "hide massive corruption".
He also adds that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is "the only president in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall who has publicly admitted that he kept the prosecutors on a leash."
"A few days before the arrest, he announced them and said that the prosecutors would have a free hand." This raises two questions: who freed the prosecutors' hands and, if their hands were freed, who previously tied their hands and did not allow them to investigate corruption," says Stojković.
Vučić as a ruler from three centuries ago
He assesses that such behavior by Vučić is absurd, as if it does not happen in the 21st century, that it would be understandable that the rulers of three centuries ago speak like that, but that despite this, Serbia has a president who publicly says that he tied the hands of the prosecutors.
"We knew that, but it's incredible that he publicly admits it." At the same time, he announces the arrests. As soon as the president of the state announces arrests, it means that the prosecution apparatus is under his absolute control, that it is not independent and independent. If the president of the state announces the arrests, it means that he is the main boss in the investigation, thus admitting that he is the one who determines who can and who cannot be arrested. That's why he decided that the person who was assigned that job nine years ago - Milorad Grcic - should now be arrested," says Stojković.
"Papić is also on a mission"
And the businessman Aleksandar Papić, who was also arrested, is "a very small fish compared to other government tycoons".
"And Papić is either on assignment or a victim of internal conflicts in the Serbian Progressive Party, because he is close to Nebojša Stefanović." And he was arrested to cover up the matter, and far from being an important financial figure in the Serbian Progressive Party, he is just someone who likes to show off in public," concludes Stojković. "There are many people richer than him in the camp of progressives who don't like to show off."
