The move by the police director to withdraw the consent of 17 police officers, members of the task force, to investigate the flow of money related to the demolition of the canopy has provoked widespread condemnation from the professional community, many of whom believe that this step is intended to undermine the investigation into the tragedy in Novi Sad. Lawyer Ivan Ninić told Nova.rs that by disbanding the unit, the regime is returning the investigation to “controlled tracks.”
Let us recall that Radar.rs revealed that the current police director, Vasiljević, notified the organized crime prosecutor’s office in writing on September 4 that he was withdrawing his consent for 17 police officers, members of the task force, to investigate the flow of money related to the demolition of the canopy, explaining that a new job classification system had been adopted.
It is noteworthy that there are four other project teams within the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office that also include police officers, but the police director did not question their membership in these teams with the new systematization.
Many are speculating about the motive behind this decision, as well as whether it will harm the financial investigation into the Serbian railway and Novi Sad railway station renovation project, during which several people were detained, including former ministers Tomislav Momirović and Goran Vesić.
According to lawyer Ivan Ninić, the aim of dissolving the so-called project group is to control the damage and attempt to interrupt any flow and exchange of quality information between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime.
“What at first glance seemed to the public to be a derailed affair is now back on track, and efforts are being delayed. The new systematization at the Ministry of the Interior is just a formal excuse by the police director, while the background is much more serious if we consider that it is not a matter of 115 million euros, as was initially announced, but three to four times more money. It may not be popular to say so, but those familiar with the case claim that the essence of the story is that Goran Vesić and Tomislav Momirović neither negotiated the controversial annexes to the contract, nor drafted them in their offices, nor made the payments. Therefore, the question now is whether prosecutor Mladen Nenadić will dare to go all the way after Vesić and Momirović and strike the octopus in the head or not,” lawyer Ivan Ninić told Nova.rs.
He also states that it is clear that the members of the group have undoubtedly followed the money trail.
“The leadership is in a panic because the members of the working group are deeply entrenched in the money trails and paths, and among them are excellent experts with decades of experience in fighting economic crime who are not loyal to the SNS, nor have they been coerced in any way. There is a fear that this investigation will go in a direction it should not, and that the final result will not be just one umbrella indictment, but several individual indictments and proceedings that will branch out in parallel in the coming period as the case unfolds,” Ninić emphasizes, adding: “There is also a fear of information leaks that have occurred in proceedings so far, and hence an attempt to break a kind of monopoly in this case, to relativize and destroy the case before the first indictment is written and filed. In a situation where the president of the country publicly announces that an acquittal will follow, it is clear that he is now doing the same thing he did in the “Jovanjica” case, i.e., preventing and obstructing the presentation of evidence. Ultimately, Aleksandar Vučić has publicly sent a message to Vesić and Momirović that they should be careful about what they say to the prosecutor and how they behave during the proceedings, and this is also the path for everyone else.
What has been discovered so far?
Let us recall that the State Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has been conducting a financial investigation for months into the financing of the Novi Sad-Subotica-state border (Kelebija) railway renovation project, which includes the renovation of the Novi Sad railway station.
The roof of the Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1 last year, killing 16 people. The roof collapsed a few months after its official opening, raising questions of corruption.
During the investigation so far, the State Prosecutor’s Office has found that the renovation was paid for several times more than planned, that the work was charged several times more than the actual price, and that certain companies were hired as subcontractors, which is against the law.
Why does the Russian army’s brutal culture go unchecked? 
Japanese divided on military response to China over Taiwan, Kyodo poll shows 
Serbian media spread disinformation: Masked Albanians fired at members of the Serbian Army 
How Britain’s Disposable Vape Ban Has Boosted Ukraine’s War Effort 
Ukraine reaches gas-import deal with Greece, Zelenskyy says 
Russia is blackmailing Vučić: Will you be brave enough to nationalize the Serbian Oil Industry?