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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Fight against economic crime necessitates all possible means

Belgrade, 22 March 2006

Serbian Minister of Justice Zoran Stojkovic said today that the government is ready to fight crime in the economy since it is well aware that such crime causes an array of negative consequences which stunt the development of society.

Zoran Stojkovic, left, and Miroslav Milosevic

Author: Tanjug

Stojkovic stressed that although a complete legal framework has been passed in this sector, there are still a lot of problems in the implementation of prescribed measures. He pointed out that for a successful battle against economic crime it is essential that judges and prosecutors who work on such cases be well-trained and all possible means used in reducing crime to the lowest possible level.

The minister said that the government has become aware of the possible danger of cybercrime on time and recalled the adoption of a law regulating that area.

Assistant Minister of Interior and Head of the Serbian Interior Ministry’s Public Security Service Miroslav Milosevic recalled that in 2005 the Ministry of Interior increased its activities with a view to effectively fighting corruption and uncovered large number of perpetrators who offered or received bribes.

Milosevic pointed out that the Serbian government has created a favourable climate for foreign investment. In that respect, one of the priorities of the government and the Ministry of Interior is suppression of organised economic crime.

He said that a special department of the ministry which deals with this area employs nearly 900 professionals, mostly economists and lawyers. Milosevic expressed his conviction that the initiated project will create necessary preconditions for successful fight against economic crime in line with international standards.

State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Finance Vesna Arsic stressed that last year some 190,000 suspicious transactions were reported to the Administration of suspicious transaction monitoring. 160,000 cases were reported by the banks, 22,000 by customs offices and around 2,000 by citizens.

She pointed out that in the forthcoming period special attention will be devoted to the training of bank and customs experts, which are expected to report any suspicious transactions.

Head of the European Agency for Reconstruction's (EAR) Office in Serbia-Montenegro Daniel Giuglaris recalled that since 2002 the EAR and the Council of Europe transferred €48 million to the Serbian Ministry of Justice and the Serbian Ministry of Interior as development aid.

According to Giuglaris, implementation of the Project for fight against economic crime will last until November 2007, while the assigned budget will total €1.6 million.