On the order of the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, 15 persons suspected of rigging public procurements in the Electric Power Company of Serbia were arrested
The chief public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanović, said that 15 people were arrested, including current president of Obrenovac Municipality and former acting director of EPS Milorad Grčić, and announced that he would be against them an investigation was conducted due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they abused their official position and public procurement authorities for the public enterprise EPS.
It is suspected that they damaged Elektroprivreda for more than one million euros, for which amount they obtained illegal property benefits, Stefanović said at the press conference.
"After a thoroughly conducted pre-investigation procedure related to the rigging of public procurement in the public company Elektroprivreda Srbije, today members of the Criminal Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, on the order of the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, arrested a total of 15 suspects, including the current president of the Obrenovac Municipality and the former acting director of EPS," stated Stefanović.
And he added: "Individual defendants are charged with giving and receiving bribes in the form of monetary gifts, which they further concealed by committing the criminal offense of money laundering." The Prosecutor's Office will also order the initiation of a financial investigation against the suspects and persons associated with them."
"Beginning of action to combat corruption"
He pointed out that this is just the beginning of the big announced action to combat corruption (it was announced by Aleksandar Vučić) and added that he expects further realizations in the coming days, about which the public will be informed in a timely manner.
VJT in Belgrade announced that, on the order of the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, members of the Criminal Police Directorate arrested the former acting director of JP Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) ad MG and 14 other persons due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that in the period from 2018 to 2021, by committing various criminal acts to the detriment of the mentioned public company, they obtained financial benefits for themselves and others, which they then invested in legal money flows.
An investigation will be conducted against these persons due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they abused their official position and powers in connection with public procurement for JP EPS and damaged that public company for more than 100 million dinars, in which amount they obtained illegal property benefits for themselves and others.
In addition to MG, according to the order of the prosecution, the coordinator in the Sector of ICT affairs in JP EPS IM, the employee in this sector NS, the director of the company "Tim Systems" doo Belgrade TA, the de facto owner of "Tim Systems" AP and the responsible person in that company NV, the director of PD "IntellSec" doo Belgrade MB, the director of PD "HRC Horeca" doo MM, as well as KM, PG, MR, IR were deprived of their liberty by order of the prosecution.
The head of the Department for Technical Protection Systems and Information Security in the Sector for Automatic Data Processing Branch of RB Kolubara LJ.S, the director of the Football Club "Borac" from Lazarevac DB and KB were also deprived of their freedom.
The suspects are charged with the criminal offenses of abuse of official position, abuse of the position of a responsible person, money laundering, accepting bribes, giving bribes and trading in influence.
According to the order of the prosecution, all persons deprived of their liberty were detained for up to 48 hours, during which time they will be brought in for questioning, it was stated in the announcement.
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