Serbian police arrest 49 people for bribe, corruption

Serbian police on Friday arrested 49 people within a wider effort to tackle corruption, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said.

According to a press release of the ministry, Stefanovic said the people are suspected to have performed several such offences since 2007 in several Serbian cities that cost the country's budget more than 7.6 million euros (8.5 million U.S. dollars).

Most of the arrested people are suspected of taking bribes or being involved in corruption in public procurement, running public institutions, misuse of public funds or abuse of office. The police are searching for two more suspects.

"Offences are related to corruption which presents a great danger for our society. Actions like this are frequently conducted. I hope that this will serve as a warning to everyone," Stefanovic said.

According to Stefanovic, criminal charges were filed against 25 of the arrested, including managers in tax administration, officials in the environment protection ministry, local officials, employees of the state-owned electric utility power company Electric Power Industry of Serbia, Post Office, as well as 12 traffic police officers.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that they (police officers) on numerous occasions demanded money of different amounts from traffic participants, in order to tolerate their offenses," the ministry's statement said.

Source: XINHUA