Krusik

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.

When supporters of Libya's United Nations-recognised government took to the streets of Tripoli last week to celebrate the retreat of a renegade general, alongside the Libyan flags they carried was a large white teddy bear with a pink nose.

While Serbian officials continue to downplay the role of the Interior Minister's father in the arms trade, documents obtained by BIRN reveal his high-level activities in this field.

They show that Branko Stefanovic, father of Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, traveled in May to the "Bereta" arms factory in Italy as part of a Serbian Interior Ministry delegation, for example.

Documents obtained by BIRN show that the management of the Serbian arms manufacturer Krusik hid key information about deals it agreed with GIM - a private arms intermediary connected to Branko Stefanovic, father of Serbia's Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic - and with Jugoimport SDPR, a Serbian state-owned intermediary.

The father of Serbia's Interior Minister, Branko Stefanovic, mediated in arms deals between the Serbian weapons manufacturer Krusik and a private Saudi Arabian company, a BIRN investigation can show.