Indictment raised against former minister over SIEPA frauds

BELGRADE - The Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime has raised an indictment against former telecommunications minister Jasna Matic and her aides on suspicion of embezzling budget funds through frauds in the Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA).

The indictment includes former SIEPA directors Bozidar Laganin, Vesna Peric and Bojan Jankovic, the Prosecutor's Office told Tanjug late Monday.

They are charged with criminal abuse of office and face two to 12 years in prison.

They have been under investigation on suspicion of embezzling around RSD 120 million in illegitimate payments made in SIEPA for non-existent copyrighted works from 2006 to 2013 and pocketing RSD 90 million with other individuals.

The indictment must first be upheld by the Special Court in Belgrade.

Matic and the other indictees were arrested on March 26 last year and remained in custody until April 15, after which they were released pending trial.

Matic was minister of telecommunications in Mirko Cvetkovic's government and director of the Foreign Investment Agency.

An official of G17 plus, she also served as state secretary for foreign economic affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.

Photo Tanjug, D. Peternek (archive)