Nemanja Stajic, the former city secretary for the legalization of buildings, and his brother Novak Stajić were released on bail of a total of million euros - half a million for each, research network BIRN learns.
Nemanja Stajić paid 130.000 euros in cash, and for the other 370.000 euros, a mortgage was placed on an, for now, unknown real estate, since he does not officially own any real estate in the cadastre.
On Tuesday, the High Court answered for N1 that Nemanja Stajić's custody was terminated with bail, but they did not specify the amount.
According to the same source, 30.000 euros were paid in cash for his brother Novak Stajić, a former bankruptcy administrator, while the other 470.000 euros were mortgaged on one of his properties near the Kalenić market in Belgrade.
Who are the Stajić brothers?
Nemanja Stajić, the former city secretary for the legalization of buildings, was accused of organizing a criminal group that for almost ten years illegally legalized buildings in exchange for bribes, the High Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade announced in mid-August. he wrote KRIK.
Apart from Stajić, 12 other people were accused, including his brother Novak Stajić, and the prosecution suspected that they had acquired around two million euros for themselves and laundered almost nine million euros.
The investigation against Stajić was initiated in 2022, half a year after KRIK published the testimonies of several construction investors who blamed Novak Stajić and the secretariat for corruption and illegal construction.
"The state even encouraged illegal construction by institutions, headed by Stajić's Secretariat, leading those investors to build illegally rather than legally. If they wanted to get a permit, they had to wait for it for months, and those who just started building without papers fared much better," Milica Vojinović, KRIK journalist, told "Vreme" earlier.
"We had that one statement, which describes the situation well, and it read - by the time I get all the permits, someone has already built several floors of the building," she explained earlier.
Prosecutor's Office statement
The Prosecution previously announced that Nemanja Stajić was suspected of organizing a criminal group and coming up with a plan for the illegal legalization of facilities, while the other defendants, 12 of them, put that plan into action. Thus, the Prosecutor's Office claims, in the period from 2016 to the end of February this year, when it was arrested, the group acquired almost two million euros through illegal activities and laundered around nine million euros.
"The expert opinion established that the total amount of money that is the subject of the criminal offense of money laundering amounts to 1.046.330.293 dinars," the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
As city secretary, Nemanja Stajić used his official position and made decisions on the legalization of buildings without complete documentation for their legalization or accelerated the legalization, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
While Nemanja Stajić was leading the legalization of buildings in Belgrade, his brother Novak started to deal with construction and entered the business through an offshore company from the British Virgin Islands. He also participated in the construction of at least five buildings in Belgrade, which BIRN also wrote about. One of his key construction companies in Serbia was Loyal Trust.
Source: BIRN/Krik
