Trial of “road mafia” group opens at Belgrade special court

BELGRADE, Serbia — The trial of a group dubbed “the road mafia gang” opened at the Belgrade special court for organised crime on Monday (May 28th). The case involves 53 former officials, including top management of the state company Serbia Roads, who allegedly electronically diverted road tolls. Damages are estimated at over 6.5m euros. It is described as the largest electronic robbery in the history of Serbia’s judiciary.

Also on Monday, Serbia’s special prosecutor for organised crime, Slobodan Radovanovic, filed charges of corruption and bribery, smuggling and abuse of office against 28 people. They are accused of participating in a scheme to remove imported goods — excise goods, oil derivatives and high-cost commercial goods — from Customs control, skirting duties totalling more than 10m euros.

In other news, UN war crimes tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte plans to visit Belgrade next week. She will submit her next report on war crimes co-operation to the UN Security Council in mid-June. (Tanjug, RTS, Beta, B92 – 28/05/07)