Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency

Serbian leaders, including President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, have defended Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, accusing Serbia's Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, KRIK, of lying about him.

BELGRADE - Observers of Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency are monitoring the electoral campaigning of parties running for seats in the Belgrade City Assembly, the Agency has announced.

It said its observers would be monitoring the activities of all political entities on the ground until the announcement of the final results of the March 4 elections.

Dragan Sikimic, who was appointed director of Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency, an independent state body tasked with monitoring parties' finances, on 17 January, is closely involved with Serbia's ruling Progressive Party, BIRN can reveal.

Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency has called for a probe into donations made to Aleksandar Vucic's successful presidential campaign in April 2017, following claims that some of them came from illegal activities, including money laundering.

BIRN can reveal that Dragoljub Zbiljic, the owner of energy company Juzna Backa, helped Serbia's ruling Progressive Party raise a loan for half a million euros ahead of the general election in 2012 - that saw the Progressives come to power.

Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency has ruled that President Aleksandar Vucic did not break the law banning use of public resources for political promotion in the spring presidential election campaign, which he won.

Zoran Stojiljkovic, head of Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency, told BIRN that there are no objective indications that corruption was decreasing in Serbia even though the ruling Progressive Party won a decisive election in 2012 on an anti-corruption manifesto.

A Blic front-page story listing the names of 15 former state officials and businessmen arrested in the police anti-corruption operation on Friday "violates the presumption of innocence and the protection of individual rights", Vukasin Obradovic, the president of the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, NUNS, told BIRN. 

Serbia and Croatia scored highly among 54 countries in a survey of the transparency of finances in politics conducted by the NGO Global Integrity.

Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency is to launch an investigation after the journalists' network for investigating crime and corruption, KRIK, claimed that the Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali was director of offshore companies.

The probe will determine whether Mali holds both positions, which would be illegal.