Former Mayor of Nis Dragana Sotirovski and her associates arrested

Photo: Milena Djordjevic, Youtube/MUP Republike Srbije, Shutterstock

Members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Department for Combating Corruption of the Criminal Police Directorate, in cooperation with the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in the city of Nis, today arrested Dragana Sotirovski and three other persons on suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of abuse of office.

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Those arrested are Dragana Sotirovski (52), the former mayor of the city of Nis, and the former commander of the Emergency Situations HQ for the City of Nis, D.N. (44), the person in charge of the entrepreneurial company Vodomonteri from Lalinci, D.N. (42), the authorized person representing Vodomonteri, D.N. (42), and Z.S. (65), the responsible person for the company Sim Puk Gradnja from Malosiste.

It is suspected that Sotirovski, using her official position in the period from March 16, 2022 to July 9, 2024, contrary to the provisions of the articles of the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management, the Decision on the Organization and Functioning of Civil Protection in the Territory of the City of Nis, as well as the Rules of Procedure of the Headquarters for Emergency Situations of the City of Nis, hired Vodomonteri and Sim Puk Gradnja to carry out various construction works in Nis.

It is suspected that Sotirovski hired the said companies by using the provisions of the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management and other regulations under this law, circumventing the Law on Public Procurement, although the jobs the companies were carrying out were not related to emergency situations but to investment maintenance, expansion of the water supply and sewerage networks, construction of a new sewerage network for waste water, and construction of supporting structure.

It is suspected that the companies were contracted based on offers they presented, which were significantly higher than the market value previously established during preliminary measurements and estimates prepared by public utilities company Naissus.

In this way, it is suspected, the aforementioned entities obtained illegal property gains in the amount of 460,322,637 dinars (close to 4 million euros), at the expense of the City of Nis.

During the search, 11 cars were seized, as well as a large number of other vehicles, trucks and machines.

The suspects are now detained for up to 48 hours by the police, and will be brought before the competent prosecutor's office along with a criminal complaint.

(Telegraf.rs)