Five arrested for grain reserves fraud

BELGRADE The police have arrested five people suspected of illegal dealings involving wheat storage, prosecutor for organized crime Miljko Radisavljevic told Tanjug. The police arrested department head of the center for food products of the Republic Directorate for Commodity Reserves in Novi Sad Mihail Uvacek and section head of a department centre of the Republic Directorate for Commodity Reserves in Novi Sad Jelena Drobnjak, Radisavljevic noted. Five arrested for grain reserves fraud Court expert Stasa Savkovic and employees of Jugoinspekt from Novi Sad Sinisa Kozlina and Angelina Strilic were also arrested, he stated. The police suspects them and two other people who were not found at their known addresses that they enabled the illegal acquisition of 11,000 tonnes of mercantile wheat and 10,500 tonnes of corn stored in two private companies in Sombor between 2005 and 2012, Radisavljevic pointed out. According to the charges against them, they gained more than EUR 5 million this way at the expense of the Republic Directorate of Commodity Reserves. All the arrested will be detained for 48 hours. They will be interviewed at the Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime on Friday. Government "won't tolerate theft" The arrest of suspects for fraud concerning storage of grains in commodity reserves sends a clear message that the government will not tolerate the theft of its property, Serbian Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajic stated on Friday. Criminal charges have been filed against 14 storage houses in which the authorities recorded considerable deficit of grains, as around 80,000 tons of wheat and corn were missing, Ljajic told reporters in the parliament. Members of the Criminal Police Department detained five individuals in Sombor and Novi Sad on suspicion that they damaged the state by fraud concerning storage of mercantile wheat and corn for commodity reserves. Ljajic said that the Friday arrest is a sign of willingness to counter those who let storage room for considerable funds from the budget and then traded the goods they received from commodity reserves. The minister announced that the draft law on commodity reserves would be filed to the parliament next week, and pointed out that one of the reasons for the adoption of the new law is the improved control over commodity reserves. The law which was in force until now did not include the provision regarding control and supervision over the Directorate for Commodity Reserves, and now the supervision over the Directorate will be carried out by four ministries, the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade, Ljajic said. He underscored that this will reduce the possibility of fraud and abuse, but this is only one direction of activities. The other course of actions is to make it possible for the Directorate to use larger storage room in its ownership. The Directorate for Commodity Reserves currently has only 17,500 square meters of storage room for wheat in one silo owned by the state, and all other storage room is rented from private storage owners, Ljajic said. Tanjug

Five arrested for grain reserves fraud

Court expert Staša Savković and employees of Jugoinspekt from Novi Sad Siniša Kozlina and Angelina Strilić were also arrested, he stated.

The police suspects them and two other people who were not found at their known addresses that they enabled the illegal acquisition of 11,000 tonnes of mercantile wheat and 10,500 tonnes of corn stored in two private companies in Sombor between 2005 and 2012, Radisavljević pointed out.

According to the charges against them, they gained more than EUR 5 million this way at the expense of the Republic Directorate of Commodity Reserves.

All the arrested will be detained for 48 hours. They will be interviewed at the Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime on Friday. Government "won't tolerate theft"

The arrest of suspects for fraud concerning storage of grains in commodity reserves sends a clear message that the government will not tolerate the theft of its property, Serbian Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajić stated on Friday.

Criminal charges have been filed against 14 storage houses in which the authorities recorded considerable deficit of grains, as around 80,000 tons of wheat and corn were missing, Ljajić told reporters in the parliament.

Members of the Criminal Police Department detained five individuals in Sombor and Novi Sad on suspicion that they damaged the state by fraud concerning storage of mercantile wheat and corn for commodity reserves.

Ljajić said that the Friday arrest is a sign of willingness to counter those who let storage room for considerable funds from the budget and then traded the goods they received from commodity reserves.

The minister announced that the draft law on commodity reserves would be filed to the parliament next week, and pointed out that one of the reasons for the adoption of the new law is the improved control over commodity reserves.

The law which was in force until now did not include the provision regarding control and supervision over the Directorate for Commodity Reserves, and now the supervision over the Directorate will be carried out by four ministries, the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade, Ljajić said.

He underscored that this will reduce the possibility of fraud and abuse, but this is only one direction of activities.

The other course of actions is to make it possible for the Directorate to use larger storage room in its ownership.

The Directorate for Commodity Reserves currently has only 17,500 square meters of storage room for wheat in one silo owned by the state, and all other storage room is rented from private storage owners, Ljajić said.