‘In the two years since the application of the Organisation and Competencies of Government Authorities in Suppressing Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act, 1,162 individuals have been convicted of crimes of corruption’, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilić stated during his formal visit to the High Court and the High Prosecutor’s Office in Kraljevo and their special anti-corruption units. Mr Ilić explained that in those two years, 1,528 indictees had appeared before such units in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraljevo and Niš, respectively. ‘I would like to congratulate all special anti-corruption units. These results are fascinating when compared to the earlier ones’, he noted, adding that prison sentences had been pronounced against 260 persons.
Mr Ilić said that the Ministry of Justice had dedicated its efforts to creating all the necessary conditions for making the special anti-corruption units operational, by placing those in Novi Sad in a new building, those in Belgrade in a renovated Palace of Justice, and those in Kraljevo in a building newly-renovated in 2017. For those in Niš, together with the rest of the judicial organs – he added −, the Filip Kljajić military facility would be re-purposed.
Mr Ilić announced the construction of a new building in Kraljevo for the purposes of the local Misdemeanour Court and the Commercial Court. Head of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit within the High Court in Kraljevo Milan Davidović stated that his Unit had processed 450 criminal cases in the previous two and a half years, three-quarters of which had been closed by an admission of guilt memorialised in a non-prosecution agreements, and the rest by regular trial judgements.
Sanja Protić of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit within the High Prosecutor’s Office in Kraljevo noted the clear progress in the fight against corruption, evident in the high number of judgements of conviction, the number of local-level officials against whom such judgements were pronounced, the high percentage of prison sentences, and the values of forfeited assets and the amounts of monetary penalties.
Other officials also took part in the formal visit to the special anti-corruption units in Kraljevo, namely Deputy Public Prosecutor Miljko Radisavljević, Prosecutor for Organised Crime Mladen Nenadić, and Mayor of Kraljevo Predrag Terzić who, on the occasion, stressed that the local citizens now had quicker and easier access to justice owing to the cooperation between the City of Kraljevo and the Ministry of Justice.
Video coverage of the visit can be downloaded for free from the following website: www.infobiro.tv.