Former minister indicted in corruption case
SOURCE: BETA, TANJUG
BELGRADE -- The Office of the Organized Crime Prosecutor raised on Wednesday an indictment against former cabinet minister Oliver Dulić and several of his associates.
The former minister of environment and spatial planning from the ranks of the now opposition Democratic Party (DS) has been indicted for abuse of office related to the issuing work licences to the Slovenian company Nuba Invest.
Organized Crime Prosecutor Miljko Radisavljević told Tanjug the indictment was raised once his office had completed the investigation against Dulić, his former associate in the ministry Nebojsa Janjić and Putevi Srbije (Roads of Serbia) public enterprise Ddirector Zoran Drobnjak, as ordered by the Special Department of the Belgrade District Court.
The prosecutor's office confirmed the suspicion that the accused had committed the crime in the indictment, Radisavljević stated.
A proposal indictment was raised against Dulić mid-October, but the prosecutor's office acquired new evidence after the investigation was expanded and raised an indictment two weeks later charging Dulić, Janjic and Drobnjak of abuse of office, for which the maximum sentence is 12 years in prison.
The Belgrade Special Court returned the indictment for additional work in early December and ordered that opinions from economic experts be added to determine the amount of profit gained from the crime.
The three men are accused of violating proper procedure to allow Nuba Invest to build an optical network along state roads, which are managed by Putevi Srbije. These are the most important roads too, from Belgrade to the borders with Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia.
Dulić's lawyer said on Wednesday that he and his client had not been informed that about the formal indictment.
Miloš Paligorić told Beta news agency that the decision "violated the right to defense because the defense lawyers had submitted motions for additional investigation".
The Democratic Party also reacted, to say in a statement that the indictment was raised "for a crime that does not exist anywhere in Europe".
The statement further stressed that the European Commission "demanded that Serbia should cancel this criminal act", because prosecuting it "gives too much room to the executive authorities to arrest and persecute those politically unsuitable," - i.e., its political opponents.
A proposal indictment was raised against Dulić mid-October, but the prosecutor's office acquired new evidence after the investigation was expanded and raised an indictment two weeks later charging Dulić, Janjic and Drobnjak of abuse of office, for which the maximum sentence is 12 years in prison.
The Belgrade Special Court returned the indictment for additional work in early December and ordered that opinions from economic experts be added to determine the amount of profit gained from the crime.
The three men are accused of violating proper procedure to allow Nuba Invest to build an optical network along state roads, which are managed by Putevi Srbije. These are the most important roads too, from Belgrade to the borders with Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia.
Dulić's lawyer said on Wednesday that he and his client had not been informed that about the formal indictment.
Miloš Paligorić told Beta news agency that the decision "violated the right to defense because the defense lawyers had submitted motions for additional investigation".
The Democratic Party also reacted, to say in a statement that the indictment was raised "for a crime that does not exist anywhere in Europe".
The statement further stressed that the European Commission "demanded that Serbia should cancel this criminal act", because prosecuting it "gives too much room to the executive authorities to arrest and persecute those politically unsuitable," - i.e., its political opponents.
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