Embezzlement: Serbia arrests 79 in anti-corruption sweep

BELGRADE: Serbian police arrested 79 people including a former minister on corruption charges including abuse of office, money laundering and financial crime, the interior minister said. Saturday’s sweep marks the country’s biggest anti-corruption investigation in decades and concerns alleged offences dating back to 2004, Nebojsa Stefanovic said. Several executives of state-owned companies, two former interior ministry officials and several mayors were also among those arrested, accused of embezzling a combined 7.8 billion dinars ($70 million). The ex-minister arrested was Slobodan Milosavljevic of the opposition Democratic Party, who held the Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management portfolio from May 2007 to July 2008. He said police were searching for five more suspects. In June, authorities charged more than three dozen police and customs officers with corruption.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2015.

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