Serbian Prosecutors Urge Probe of Alleged Graft Link to Minister

Nebojsa Stefanovic. Photo: EPA/JANOS MARJAI.

Nebojsa Stefanovic. Photo: EPA/JANOS MARJAI.

The Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime told BIRN on Thursday that it has asked the Interior Ministry's Service for the Fight against Organised Crime to probe allegations that a company connected to Defence Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic's father bought weapons at preferential prices from the state arms manufacturer Krusik.

The Krusik allegations first emerged in a BIRN investigation in 2019 but have not been investigated until now. In the meantime, Stefanovic's father, Branko Stefanovic, has died after contracting COVID-19.

The Prosecutor's Office said that after considering the reports from the Military Security Agency, VBA, and the Security Intelligence Agency, BIA, it has sent a request to the Interior Ministry to investigate the case.

The Krusic allegations were mentioned in a European Parliament report on Serbia, which was published in March.

An initial BIRN investigation in November 2018 revealed that Branko Stefanovic had mediated in arms deals between Krusik and a private Saudi Arabian company, Rinad Aljazira, and had visited Krusik in May 2017 as one of three representatives of private company GIM.

BIRN also obtained documents showing GIM had bought weapons from Krusik for a lower price than Serbia's state arms trade companies.

BIRN later revealed that Branko Stefanovic was also a part of a Serbian police delegation during a visit to the Italian Beretta arms factory. Suggestions of potential corruption were fueled by the fact that the Interior Ministry, which was led by his son at that time, is among the state institutions that grants permits for arms exports.

Nebojsa Stefanovic was Interior Minister from 2014 until 2020. However, although he was...

Continue reading on: