In the first seven months of the implementation of the new Law on Organisation and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in Suppression of Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption, special departments of public prosecutor's offices filed various types of indictments against 275 defendants and, in that short period, courts have already passed convictions against a total of 142 persons, 56 of whom were sentenced to prison, Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović said today.
She pointed out that public prosecutor’s offices prosecuted various crimes, including the new ones appearing in our legal system for the first time in amendments to the Criminal Code from 2016, pointing out that crimes are dominated by the criminal offences of bribery, misuse of official position and embezzlement in performing business activities.
“These few data indicate that our judiciary is very capable of implementing such a major and demanding reform and, secondly, with the implementation of such a demanding reform, the judiciary and the police can demonstrate enviable efficiency”, Kuburović emphasised at the conference “Prevention and Fight Against Corruption” in the Palace of Serbia.
“When it comes to numbers and efficiency, such success has not been recorded so far and this is only the beginning. I am convinced that neither the police nor prosecutors have yet shown what they know and can do”, said the Minister of Justice and commended all senior public prosecutors, presidents of courts, heads of special departments, the prosecutor for organised crime, acting judges and deputy public prosecutors, as well as police officers.
Kuburović pointed out that both the new Law on Organisation and extensive amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted in November 2016, but that a period until 1 March this year was left to begin with their implementation.
“This long period has been allocated so that all state bodies, not just the police, public prosecutor’s offices and courts, but also other bodies like Tax Administration, Tax Police, Customs Administration, Anti-Corruption Agency and others are introduced to the future way of work”, the Minister of Justice said.
She pointed out that a large number of trainings for judges, prosecutors and representatives of other institutions were held from November 2017 to June 2018.
“With the great help of the project ‘Prevention and Fight against Corruption’, more than 300 participants passed professional training. Also, personnel capacities of special departments for corruption, four higher courts and four public prosecution’s offices have been built, which has increased the number of administrative workers for almost 70 new employees. Special departments of the public prosecutor's office and the public prosecutor's offices for organised crime have for the first time employed financial forensic operators as civil servants”, Minister Kuburović said.
However, Kuburović made a remark that in these cases there were no serious results of confiscation of the property acquired by a criminal offence and emphasised that she was not satisfied either with the number of cases in which the property was seized or with the amount of confiscated property.
Minister of Interior Nebojša Stefanović thinks that there is no country that can say that it has completely defeated crime and corruption, but that Serbia is successful in fighting crime and commenced prosecutors, police officers, judges and all who contributed to Serbia's success in fighting corruption.
“Sometimes it seems to me that we do not know how to say a good word for all these people who are working hard to achieve results in that fight. Serbia achieved results in this fight which it can be proud of, but of course we must never be satisfied with the achieved. We must constantly work more and better”, Stefanović said.
He also pointed out that Serbia provided a good legislative framework in the previous period.
“The Ministry of Justice and the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office have made great efforts in the previous period to create rigorous laws, not only the Law we are discussing about today, anti-corruption and anti-crime laws, but also a general legislative framework which provides Serbia with the opportunity to be serious in the fight against crime”, Stefanović said.
The Minister called upon judges to adjudicate in accordance with the legal framework, without a mild penal policy, because the laws are adopted and there is no need to change them every six months or a year.
He also stated that it is necessary to influence the consciousness of the society to realise that corruption is not a desirable thing, whether this concerns a small corruption in the amount of EUR 100 or 200, or the most dangerous one, which may not be seen at first glance, which involves huge money and, as a consequence, our schools, roads and hospitals disappear thanks to people who think how to gain for themselves and not for the common good..
“Serbia will always be looking for more in terms of results and the rule of law. I know that we will always be those who will be observed with a bigger magnifying glass, but I am convinced, as the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, that Serbia is ready for it”, Stefanović concluded.
Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sam Fabrici emphasised that the new Law on Organisation and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in Suppression of Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption, which became effective on 1 March this year, “seems to be going in the right direction and shows a positive trend with first results when it comes to specific results”.
Fabrici added that he is very proud that the EU finances a project that supports Serbia in achieving tangible results in fight against corruption and noted that this topic is of fundamental importance not only for the European future of Serbia, but also for the social and economic development of the country, for the feeling justice and for the quality of state administration.
Ambassador Fabrici added that the investigative method “Monitor Money and Find Corruption" is still a key to achieving results in the fight against corruption and money laundering.
President of the Supreme Court of Cassation Dragomir Milojević, Republic Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac and Director of the Judicial Academy Nenad Vujić also spoke at the conference.
The project “Prevention and Fight against Corruption”, funded by the European Union, is being implemented with the aim of strengthening mechanisms for the prevention and fight against corruption in accordance with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Action Plan for Chapter 23, as well as improving efficiency in the fight against corruption and contributing to the reduction of all its forms. With this project, the EU continues to support Serbia in the improvement of the judiciary and the rule of law.