Bjelic and associates to be taken into police custody

BELGRADE – The Belgrade Police Administration, in collaboration with the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, has issued an order for nine persons, including former city manager Aleksandar Bjelic, to be taken into police custody on suspicion of fraud allegedly perpetrated by them during a reconstruction of the Serbian capital’s longest street, Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra.

Police Director Milorad Veljovic has told Tanjug that the suspects will be handed over to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade for further prosecution.

The police actions were not politically motivated, Veljovic said. The police did their job in compliance with the law and will carry on doing things that way. Nobody will be protected, no matter who they are and what role they may play, he stressed.

Veljovic said that the police has established that the Balkan Gradnja company was favored over others in the tender for the reconstruction of the Belgrade street, as some firms offering far more favorable bids were excluded from the procurement process.

“The order was for Balkan Gradnja to get the job. Investigations conducted by the Belgrade Police Administration, in collaboration with the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, have found that this brought losses of over EUR 6 million for the City of Belgrade,” Veljovic said.

Photo Tanjug, S. Radovanovic