"Prosecution to verify Subotić allegations"

Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime Miljko Radisavljevic says allegations made by "controversial businessman" Stanko Subotic, aka Cane, will be verified. Subotic, indicted in Serbia for his role in the 1990s cigarette smuggling operations, said in a phone-in a B92 TV live talk show on Monday evening that money that he was owed was used to finance the purchase of the Port of Belgrade company and Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti. "Prosecution to verify Subotic allegations" Both companies have since denied the accusations against them. "The accuracy of the information has to be checked, which should not be a problem, since such a financial transaction, amounting to several dozen million euros, must have left a trace in corresponding business documentation of banks and economic subjects," the special prosecutor stated. "If the transaction was not put on record, this would imply that it was performed with cash, which would raise the issue of the money's origin, and of a possible criminal act of money laundering," he said. It is possible, Radisavljevic pointed out, "that there was fraud, but this could also be just a relation between economic subjects". "However, bearing in mind that Subotic did not press charges against persons related to the matter, the prosecution does not have the authority to investigate all the facts of the case," he said. The special prosecutor's office for organized crime will act in accordance with their legal authorities and jurisdictions, Radisavljevic stressed.

"Prosecution to verify Subotić allegations"

Both companies have since denied the accusations against them.

"The accuracy of the information has to be checked, which should not be a problem, since such a financial transaction, amounting to several dozen million euros, must have left a trace in corresponding business documentation of banks and economic subjects," the special prosecutor stated.

"If the transaction was not put on record, this would imply that it was performed with cash, which would raise the issue of the money's origin, and of a possible criminal act of money laundering," he said.

It is possible, Radisavljević pointed out, "that there was fraud, but this could also be just a relation between economic subjects".

"However, bearing in mind that Subotić did not press charges against persons related to the matter, the prosecution does not have the authority to investigate all the facts of the case," he said.

The special prosecutor's office for organized crime will act in accordance with their legal authorities and jurisdictions, Radisavljević stressed.