Illegally acquired property worth several million euros; Stefanović: The investigation is ongoing since 2022

The chief public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanović, said today that on the order of the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, eight persons were arrested, including Nemanja Stajić, former secretary of the Secretariat for Legalization Affairs in Belgrade in the City Administration of Belgrade.

Stefanović stated that Jovan Kovačević, the deputy of Nemanja Stjić at the time, who is now the current head of the Vračar municipality area department of that secretariat, was also arrested.

As he said, the arrested are suspected of criminal offenses of abuse of official position, abuse of official position in incitement, abuse of official position in helping and money laundering.

"Members of the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP) arrested a total of eight people today, including Nemanja Stajić, former secretary of the Secretariat for Legalization of Buildings in the City Administration of the City of Belgrade, as well as his then-deputy Jovan Kovačević, who is now the current head of the Vračar Municipality Department of that Secretariat," said Chief Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanović.

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His relatives assisted him

Stefanović stated that the results of the first part of this investigation made sense by crossing the data obtained from the financial investigation of the suspect Nemanja Stajić and members of his close and distant relatives, who are also suspected in this case, with the data published in the media about disputed legalizations.

"The mentioned financial investigation was carried out as part of the investigation that was launched against Nemanja Stajić in October 2022 and which, due to the complexity and scope of the checks, is still ongoing.

"The financial investigation established that the aforementioned persons could not acquire or build the disputed legal objects with legal income," said Stefanović.

He added that an inspection of the disputed legalizations established that close and distant relatives of the former city secretary for legalization immediately after the adoption of the decision on legalization acquired ownership of objects previously legalized by the secretariat.

As one of the many examples found in this case, Stefanović cited the example of a plot from the cadastral municipality of Mirijevo and showed a satellite image of the plot from 2015, which, as he said, was in 2016 and 2017 without any construction works, and that after that a building was built there and a request for legalization followed, as if the building was built in 2015.

He also said that Novak Stajić, Nemanja Stajić's brother, is accused of concluding contracts for the sale of a total of 90 illegally legalized apartments and 16 garage spaces in different locations in the city from July 2019 to the end of 2022, thus acquiring money obtained through conversion from criminal activities in the total amount of 5,432,376 euros. He added that I.K. was arrested for buying and selling illegally legalized real estate, acquiring money in the total amount of 490,440 euros.

"In the same way, as is suspected, the two suspects, against whom criminal charges were also filed in the regular procedure, acquired considerable illegal financial gain," said Stefanović.

6 people were arrested for illegal construction in Ledine in Belgrade

In the operation to suppress illegal construction, six persons were arrested this morning, suspected of having committed criminal acts of construction without a building permit.

It is suspected that with such illegal actions, in the capacity of investors, they built four residential buildings in Ledine, without a previously issued building permit.

In the action to suppress illegal construction, according to the orders of the public prosecutors of the Third Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, and in cooperation with the police officers of the New Belgrade police station and construction inspectors of the Building Inspection Department of the City of Belgrade, six persons were arrested who are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of building without a building permit from Article 219a paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code and by such illegal action, in the capacity of investors, built four residential buildings in Ledine, without prior building permits issued.

The retention decision was made against the defendants A.L. (born in 1978), P.Ž. (born in 2002), Z.N. (born in 1971), A.N. (born in 2002), N.M. (born in 1996) and K.M. (born in 2001). The defendant will be heard on February 21, 2025, regarding all the circumstances stated in the criminal charges. They will be brought to the public prosecutors of the Third Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade.

Let's recall that this morning the former secretary of the Secretariat for legalization affairs in Belgrade, Nemanja Stajić, was arrested on the order of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade on suspicion of having approved the legalization of a number of illegally built buildings.

Let us remind you that as part of a major action in the fight against corruption, the operations of 50 companies were checked yesterday by order of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade. Among the companies that are "being scrutinized" are Savanova plus, Tončev group from Niš, Freestyler from Belgrade, Škrbić winery, Grass garden, Sava nova Plus restaurant, Putevi Užice, IT Globe, NBI.N.A.T. doo Kragujevac etc.