Prosecutor: Huge Embezzlement Cases Are Controlled

Prosecutor’s Office (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)

Belgrade Higher Public Prosecution prosecutor Jasmina Paunovic, who was recently taken off of the Elektroprivreda Srbije case which she publicly protested, has said that cases of enormous embezzlements are being controlled by giving them to inexperienced prosecutors.

"What is extremely important and noticeable is that even when you have a serious case and a serious crime in which names are mentioned that are unknown to the wider public, when you have criminal acts that usurp social property and affect the Serbian budget, where the amount embezzled is enormous, these cases are usually handed to deputies from lower prosecutions, who have no experience and have not gone through the mandatory training for working on cases with elements of corruption," Paunovic told the April 27 edition of the NIN weekly.

She said that, "This is no accident, these deputies rely on the division chiefs in their work, who will in fact indirectly shape the case, but with the signature of the deputy to which a case has been handed." "The divisions chiefs are appointed by the public prosecutor. Then you reach the conclusion that the public prosecutor has every case that they are interested in under control," Paunovic said.