No one is protected; New details of the arrest of Grčić, Papić, and Marinković

By order of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption, Milorad Grcic (55), former acting CEO of the National Power Company of Serbia (EPS) and current president of the Obrenovac municipality, was arrested yesterday, as well as 14 other persons.

Among them is businessman Aleksandar Papić, as well as his associate Toni Apostolović, several managers of EPS from Kolubara, leaders of Borac Football Club from Lazarevac...

The decision on police detention for up to 48 hours was made, in addition to Grčić, Papić and Apostolović, for Ivan Marinković, coordinator in the ICT sector of JP EPS, Nemanja Stanković, an officer in this sector, Ljubiša Stanojević, head of the Department for Technical Protection Systems and Information Security of the Kolubara Mining Basin, Milan Blagojević, director of the company "Intelsek", then the responsible person of Papić's company "Tim sistems" Nenad Vujić, Katarina Marinković, from a consulting firm...

Dejan Bulatović, director of the Borac Football Club, as well as Kristina Bulatović, as well as M.M., P.G., M.R. and I.R., are behind bars. Grcic was handcuffed yesterday morning while he was getting out of his "smart" car, and in his office in the municipality of Obrenovac, the police found a large amount of money, expensive watches, jewelry...

He signed the record of confiscated items, which will be the subject of an investigation. In the afternoon, around 4:40 p.m., the police took businessman Aleksandar Papić in handcuffs out of the luxury building in Vračar where he lives. The policemen took computers, documents and other evidence from the apartment in black bags. The search of the apartment, located on the top floor of the building, lasted for hours. The suspects are charged with the criminal offenses of abuse of office, abuse of the position of a responsible person, money laundering, accepting bribes, giving bribes and trading in influence. Grcic and the others detained are accused of having committed various criminal acts from 2018 to 2021, and to the detriment of EPS, they obtained material benefits for themselves and others, which they then injected into legal cash flows. The chief public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanović, said at yesterday's press conference that an investigation will be conducted against them due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they abused their official position and powers in connection with public procurement for the public company EPS. It is suspected that they damaged that public company for more than 100 million dinars.

EPS gave money to FK Borac

FK Borac from Lazarevac has received large financial resources from EPS in recent years. The police are determining the amounts and when they were paid, for what purpose and what they were spent on, given that it is a lower league club. It is being investigated whether EPS FK Borca gave money, and that it might have ended up in private pockets. The company "B-M-IT consulting group" is 100 percent owned by the arrested Dejan Bulatović. In it, Bulatović and Ivan Marinković were directors from 2021. Their wives, Kristina Bulatović and Katarina Marinković, were members of the supervisory board. The police are investigating suspicions as to whether the money, which the football club received from EPS, may have been withdrawn through that company.

- Certain defendants are charged with giving and receiving bribes in the form of monetary gifts, which they further concealed by committing the crime of money laundering - said the prosecutor. The Prosecutor's Office will also order the initiation of a financial investigation against the suspects and their related persons. He pointed out that this is just the beginning of the big announced operation to combat corruption and added that he expects further realizations in the coming days, about which the public will be informed in a timely manner.

According to the information of "Novosti", it is a series of, as the investigating authorities suspect, rigged tenders for the procurement of technical equipment, apparatus and software for the entire facilities of the National Power Company of Serbia. What is especially eye-popping, however, is the fact that a series of those "acquired" and paid for products and equipment "appeared" only in the documentation.

In parallel, a financial investigation is ongoing

Investigative authorities announced that a financial investigation against the 15 arrested in yesterday's anti-corruption police operation will be conducted in parallel with the criminal investigation. The apartments and houses, as well as the offices they use, were thoroughly searched. At Miodrag Grčić's office in the municipality, a large amount of money in euros, Swiss francs and dinars was found, as well as three wristwatches, as many necklaces with pendants... From the magnificent villa of Aleksandar Papić in Dedinje, among other things, according to some media, 15 expensive bags, a luxury car were temporarily confiscated... The list of ownership of movable and immovable property of all the suspects is in progress.

"In addition to the software, which was paid for as if it were the last word of science, license plate recognition ramps for all EPS facilities were allegedly acquired," says a "Novosti" source close to the investigation.

"None installed."

The acquisition of equipment to protect mobile phones is also mentioned.

According to the interlocutor, it all started in 2019 when EPS, through the company "Intelsek", acquired software for phone protection, which at that time cost around 230,000 euros. The same company, among others, appeared in tenders in the following three years as well, when it comes to the procurement of personal data collection programs, miniature audio recorders, drones, facial recognition cameras, locators, signal tracking devices (GPS), jammers of mobile phone signals...

According to unofficial information, part of this equipment, which was delivered, was also located in the EPS branch in Kolubara. At that moment, the entire business was worth more than 600,000 euros, and the entire purchase was hidden behind a tender for the purchase of audio and digital equipment and for the servicing of mobile devices. The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime has been conducting a preliminary investigation into all possible abuses in the EPS for several years, based on several criminal reports. One of them, admittedly anonymous, indicated a bribe of 80,000 euros. The police interviewed more than 150 employees in this public company, as well as in private companies, which did business with EPS. It was clear that this was corruption at a high level. The now arrested Milan Blagojević, the owner of the company "Intelsek", gave a statement to the police several times in the capacity of a citizen, and information was also collected from the director of this company, M.M.

Marinković also implicated his wife

The arrested Ivan Marinković is a coordinator in the Department of Information and Communication Technologies at JP EPS. He is also the former president of the Football Club "Borac" from Lazarevac. Dejan Bulatović, who was arrested, is the director of that club. In this whole scheme, as is suspected, Marinković involved his wife Katarina and godfather Ljubiša Stanojević.

"We suspect that those tenders, in which this company won, were rigged," says the source of "Novosti."

"Sometime in 2019, he came into contact with Ivan Marinković, who worked as a coordinator for information and communication technologies EPS. Marinković and Nenad Dilberović asked him for equipment that, as he said, they needed for monitoring poles and power lines due to theft. There, an agreement was reached for the purchase of equipment for the protection of mobile communications, on the basis of which the documentation for the tender was created. These tenders caused suspicion from the very moment they were announced, due to the required conditions, which the equipment must fulfill. Only one bidder appeared on some of them, namely "Intelsek", and on other tenders this company was the most favorable."

More arrests follow

According to unofficial information, yesterday's arrests are part of a large operation that will last for months. There are indications that for more than 30 cases of major corruption, the investigators have already, as he says, settled the dice and that new arrests can be expected. In Belgrade alone, allegedly, 17 major cases are being investigated. Insiders say that a merciless fight will be waged in order to send a clear message that no one is trying to "smudge" anymore and think they will get away with it.

"Two drones and one video surveillance system were purchased through a public procurement, which was registered as equipment for monitoring the energy sector," explains the interlocutor of "Novosti" from the investigation.

"With the help of those cameras, it is possible to identify faces at a distance of up to 800 meters. One of the most interesting acquisitions is a device for secret audio and video recording. It is a device of extremely small dimensions, like a matchbox, with a built-in microphone and a miniature camera," explains the interlocutor.

"The device also has a SIM card slot. Content is received on a computer or mobile phone."

Grcic entered politics in 2008: From baker to director

MILORAD Grčić (54) is the president of the Municipality of Obrenovac, and he was elected to that position in July 2024. He was born in Obrenovac, where he previously had a cafe and bakery. As the leader of a group of citizens in the 2008 elections, he entered the Obrenovac Assembly and became the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality, but in 2010 he left that coalition with the Democratic Party. After that, he became a member of the Serbian Progressive Party. He was appointed acting director of the "Kolubara" Mining Basin on October 8, 2012, and held that position until December 2015, when he became the director of the Office for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Electric Power Company of Serbia. For acting EPS CEO, he was appointed on March 15, 2016. He submitted his resignation on January 12, 2022, a month after the accident at EPS, when almost all production units stopped due to wet coal that was fired. A few days later, Grcic was appointed assistant to the president of Obrenovac Municipality, and in July 2024 he was elected president of Obrenovac Municipality. Two years ago, the media reported that at a party in Obrenovac, he slapped the singer Jovan Stefanović, because he did not know how to sing a song, and then punched him. Grcic was handcuffed yesterday morning, and in the building of the Municipality of Obrenovac, where he works, a large amount of money, luxurious watches, jewelry were reportedly found...

Papić testified at the trial of Belivuk: Miljković asked him for a watch

Aleksandar Papić is known as a former close friend and associate of the former Minister of Defense and Police Nebojša Stefanović. However, they parted ways when Papić, at a meeting of councilors of the Serbian Progressive Party of the Zvezdara municipality in 2021, voted for the removal of Stefanović from the position of chairman of the City Committee. Papić testified in the proceedings against Belivuk's group in the Special Court, because the accused Marko Miljković claimed that Papić gave him a Rolex watch, which was confiscated. Papić said that he knew Miljković and Belivuk, that he wanted to give the watch to a friend, but Miljković saw it and asked to sell it to him, so he gave it to Miljković's cousin. It was also written about Papić that his company bought cheaply two hotels in Vrnjačka Banja, renovated them and sold them. He was also the owner of the website and newspaper "Objektiv", which were closed. The media reported that Papić allegedly lives with his family in one of the most luxurious villas in Dedinje, which has almost a thousand square meters and is worth around four and a half million euros.

• 15 Louis Vuitton bags were found with Papić; The arrested businessman enjoyed luxury with his wife

"This is just one of the properties in his possession. The villa is surrounded by high walls and secured with state-of-the-art video-surveillance cameras. In addition, he has a security house so that no one can enter this property unnoticed," says a source from the investigation.

In Papić's apartment, during the search, 15 luxury bags owned by his wife were allegedly found.

Tony Apostolović's companies have grown in recent years: He made a fortune from software

Toni Apostolović is the owner of several companies, including Team System and IT Excellence, which have grown significantly in recent years. "Tim Systems" was founded in 2010 and deals with software and IT consulting. Three years ago, his account was blocked for about seven months. Apostolović is a close friend and associate of Aleksandar Papić, whom the Prosecution alleges is the de facto owner of this company. While his company generated revenue of 1.7 billion dinars in 2018, the public was not informed about all the details of his business. Although he is considered a successful entrepreneur, there are many doubts about the ways in which he acquired his wealth.