BIRN: Ministry of Environment Gave Millions of Dinars to Organizations Close to the Government

BIRN-logo

The Ministry of Environmental Protection gave millions of dinars to organizations affiliated with the ruling parties in Serbia and phantom organizations, while some of the recipients are organizations affiliated with the assistant minister and member of the city council in Novi Sad Hadzi Strahinja Stojkovic, the BIRN Srbije website reported on Feb. 19.

At the first contest that the Ministry of Environmental Protection called in the past five years almost half of a total RSD50 million was awarded to organizations close to the ruling parties and phantom organizations, a BIRN study shows.

An analysis performed by the Belgrade Open School shows that funds were also handed to organizations that do not meet even the basic conditions, and so money was handed to organizations created after the envisaged deadline and organizations whose annual income is lower than the minimum specified amount. Due to these irregularities, a number of citizen organizations filed complaints to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, but none of them were adopted.

This is the first contest to be called by the Ministry after 2021, when, according to civil society organization reports, numerous irregularities and possible abuses in distributing funds were also discovered. A total of RSD50 million has been awarded to the projects of 71 organizations.