{"id":19987,"date":"2016-06-22T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/anti-corruption-agency-brought-proceedings-against-1-5-of-mps\/"},"modified":"2019-09-04T18:34:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T16:34:35","slug":"anti-corruption-agency-brought-proceedings-against-1-5-of-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/anti-corruption-agency-brought-proceedings-against-1-5-of-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Corruption Agency Brought Proceedings against 1\/5 of MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAnti-Corruption Agency<\/em> conducted proceedings against one in five out of a total of 250 members of the new convocation of the Serbian National Assembly. Among these 51 MPs, the majority were from the ranks of the Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> (SNS) \u2013 13, the Socialist Party of Serbia<\/em> (SPS) \u2013 9 and Social Democrat Party of Serbia<\/em> (SDP) \u2013 4.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThree MPs were from the Democratic Party<\/em> (DS), including the incumbent party president Bojan Pajti\u0107<\/strong>. The Agency issued a warning to Pajti\u0107 over his failure to declare timely his public office.<\/p>\n

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\n\tPajti\u0107 did not respond to requests for an interview from the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia<\/em> (CINS).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOut of 51 MPs, the Agency conducted proceedings against 43 legislators on suspicion of having failed to submit property and revenue declarations or that they deliberately concealed their assets, whereas another four MPs allegedly failed to declare either having entered or left a public office.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOther proceedings were brought against public officials on suspicion of failure to step aside from management positions in their own companies, of accepting gifts, of failing to transfer managerial rights and of discharging general manager\u2019s duties in a privately owned company for the duration of their term in public office.<\/p>\n

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\n\t

\n\t\tDatabase on Proceedings Against Public Officials<\/h2>\n\t\"Database<\/a>\n\t

\n\t\tFor the past six months, in order to narrow down the total number of MPs in breach of the law, CINS journalists have gathered data on almost 2,000 public officials against whom the Agency has brought proceedings since its inception. Database with all the proceedings can be searched on this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe Agency institutes the proceedings against a public official suspected of breaching the Anti-Corruption Agency<\/em> Act. If the alleged infringement is corroborated, the Agency may issue a warning to the officials in question, a public recommendation for their dismissal or an instruction to publish the information that the law has been breached.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the event of suspicion that a more serious infringement of the regulations or a criminal offence has occurred, the Agency files a motion to commence misdemeanour proceedings or criminal charges in courts and with prosecutors\u2019 offices.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMisdemeanour proceedings conducted against newly elected MPs have resulted for the most part in minimum penalties. In five cases, the Agency also brought criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the officials against whom the Agency filed misdemeanour charges in mid-2013 was Veroljub Arsi\u0107<\/strong>, an MP from the Serbian Progressive Party\u2019s caucus in the new parliament. The Agency established that Arsi\u0107 was a general manager in his company Vecko<\/em>, based in Po\u017earevac, at the same time whilst serving his previous term of office as an MP in the Serbian parliament.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor over a year, Po\u017earevac Misdemeanour Court was trying to induce Arsi\u0107 to come to a hearing. Court summonses were being sent to his postal address, and even delivered to his father, but Arsi\u0107 never attended the scheduled hearings. On two occasions he cited business trips and a reception for a senior foreign delegation, respectively, as a reason for his absence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn February 2015, the court handed down a minimum penalty for such a misdemeanour offence \u2013 a 50.000 dinars fine, whereas the Agency instructed that its decision stating a violation of law is to be made public.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tArsi\u0107 said he could not appear in the court due to his prior engagements going on to say that his case was all about a violation of legal formalities because of an oversight on his part and resulting in no harm to anyone whatsoever. Given their positions and the need to set an example for the citizens, public officials must do more to abide by the law, Arsi\u0107 added.<\/p>\n

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\n\tFive Criminal Charges<\/h2>\n

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\n\tAmongst other things, the Anti-Corruption Agency<\/em> monitors and penalises public officials. Namely, the Agency checks if they are in a conflict of interest, if they have declared their property, etc. When graver violations of law occur, e.g. if there is a suspicion that some public official has had an intent to conceal his property, the Agency may also bring criminal charges. This was what has actually happened with five MPs in the new parliament.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe cases of \u010cedomir Jovanovi\u0107<\/strong> and Du\u0161an Bajatovi\u0107<\/strong> have been closed, but the proceedings against Goran Je\u0161i\u0107<\/strong>, Slavica \u0110uki\u0107 Dejanovi\u0107<\/strong> and Veroljub Stevanovi\u0107<\/strong> are still under way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Agency handed over the copies of criminal charges to CINS, but almost all the information contained therein was blacked out, hence there were no additional details accessible even in the cases which had already been closed.<\/p>\n

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\n\tA charge against \u010cedomir Jovanovi\u0107<\/strong>, the Liberal Democrat Party<\/em> (LDP) leader, was dismissed as the First Basic Prosecutor\u2019s Office in Belgrade could not establish his intent to conceal his property. Jovanovi\u0107\u2019s tally also included a misdemeanour charge for his failure to transfer management rights in a company to another person, however, the proceedings were suspended as the statute of limitations had occured.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n\t

\n\t\tDu\u0161an Bajatovi\u0107 did not respond to CINS journalists\u2019 request for comment by the time of publication of this article.
\n\t\tPhoto: Media Centre<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDu\u0161an Bajatovi\u0107<\/strong>, Srbijagas<\/em> director and SPS vice-president, was acquitted after having struck a plea bargain with Novi Sad Prosecutor\u2019s Office to make a payment of 200,000 dinars for humanitarian purposes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time of publication of this article, Jovanovi\u0107 and Bajatovi\u0107 did not respond to a request for comment on their respective cases to CINS journalists.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKragujevac Appellate Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office notified CINS that the local Basic Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office was running cases against a member of the Democratic Party<\/em> (DS) parliamentary caucus, Veroljub Stevanovi\u0107<\/strong>, and SPS vice-president, Slavica \u0110uki\u0107-Dejanovi\u0107, respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to their records, the hearing of ex-Kragujevac mayor Veroljub Stevanovi\u0107 was postponed several times over irregular delivery of court summons, and the new hearing was scheduled for the 13th of June this year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tStevanovi\u0107 said he did not show up for that hearing either as he was away adding that everything would be postponed for another day. When CINS journalists called him, he did not say much about the criminal charge levelled against him. And then he did not answer the calls despite an agreement to talk with journalists later.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn the \u0110uki\u0107 Dejanovi\u0107\u2019s<\/strong> case, evidence is currently being presented to establish if there are revenues and property which she has failed to declare despite the obligation to do it under the Anti-Corruption Agency Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn a statement for CINS, she said the problem was with an apartment she had sold before she became a public official, hence she thought there was no need to declare it.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cI fully agree the information about public officials and their property, everything, should be made available to the public, that the Agency should do its job, but with regard to some illogical things, I think it would be fairer if the Agency first sought to confirm the truth,\u201d said \u0110uki\u0107 Dejanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

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\n\tGoran Je\u0161i\u0107<\/strong>, a DS MP, said he was in breach of the law having failed to declare his property accurately, but he did not think such an infraction warranted a criminal charge but a misdemeanour one instead. In 2013 an earlier misdemeanour charge had been brought against him over his failure to declare property on time, but it was dismissed having exceeded the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAlmost all public officials whom CINS contacted agreed the Agency\u2019s work was important, but went on to say no serious violations occurred in their respective cases.<\/p>\n

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\n\tMinimum Fines for Misdemeanour Offences<\/h2>\n

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\n\tIn almost all cases before misdemeanour courts, the levied fines hovered around the legal minimum or even dipped below it. Thus, in 29 cases resulting in a judgment, fourteen officials were fined with 50,000 dinars, whilst in another three cases the fine amounted to 20,000 dinars. A warning was issued to public officials four times, and another eight cases were dismissed.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n\t

\n\t\tI didn’t have time, trust me on this, to deal with the law; none of us have time to deal with the law
\n\t\tPhoto: www.srbija.gov.rs <\/a><\/p>\n\t

\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tGoran Kne\u017eevi\u0107<\/h3>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tGoran Kne\u017eevi\u0107<\/strong>, former minister of agriculture, forestry and water management and DS party official, but now, though, an SNS MP, did not declare on time 1.34 million dinars in income made as a member of the Board of Directors with Petroleum Industry of Serbia<\/em> (NIS).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade handed down its judgment in first instance issuing a warning to Kne\u017eevi\u0107, but the appellate court overturned the verdict, hence he had to pay the minimum penalty \u2013 a fine to the tune of 50,000 dinars.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKne\u017eevi\u0107 said he acknowledged the penalty adding that there was nothing contentious about it. He was late with his declaration as, in his own words, \u201cI didn’t have time, trust me on this, to deal with the law; none of us have time to deal with the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHad someone alerted us, we\u2019d probably have done it and sorted it out in time, so I\u2019d say, in principle, at issue here is a delay, but there was nothing malicious about it as I\u2019ve declared in the meantime all my income and paid all the taxes due, therefore there\u2019s nothing contentious about it,\u201d explained Kne\u017eevi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAn SPS official Branko Ru\u017ei\u0107<\/strong> fared the same in court as Kne\u017eevi\u0107. In the past he had already served as an MP and held a post as a cabinet minister. Belgrade Misdemeanour Court fined him as he failed to submit on time his property and income sheet.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHERE<\/a> you may look up a list of all the deputies in the National Assembly against whom the Agency has brought proceedings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of 250 National Assembly deputies with confirmed terms of office, the Anti-Corruption Agency brought proceedings over their failure to declare property and other violations of the law against 51 legislators. There are also MPs with pending criminal charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1340,"featured_media":16524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1492,1572],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigative-stories","category-public-officials","ciTrackContent"],"acf":[],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1466581398~~CINS-ilustracija.png","author_additional":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22289,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19987\/revisions\/22289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}