According to KRIK, the convicted Darko Šarić was helped by people from the top of the government, Nebojša Stefanović and Marko Parezanović. After unsuccessfully campaigning with Judge Milimir Lukić, the Supreme Court expelled him from the panel that decided on Šarić's verdict
The Serbian police identified two powerful representatives of the state who helped drug lord Darko Sarić - former police minister Nebojša Stefanović and head of BIA Marko Parezanović. However, the prosecutor for organized crime did not prosecute them, reveals a police document from the Šarić case that he published KRIK.
According to the investigation, Stefanović assigned two of his associates from the police to Sarić to help the clan, but he also personally delivered confidential information to this group. From Šarić's group, he received a watch worth 17.000 euros, the messages exchanged between the criminals reveal.
And Parezanović was allegedly a conduit for criminals to a powerful official they called "Oskar", but he denies for KRIK that he did any favors for the Šarić clan. Apart from them, Sarić was helped by a strongman whom the criminals called "Nikola P", and whom neither the police nor the prosecution identified.
Pressure on judges
"When you're fired up - write and I'll give you Atos to explain everything to you one by one," Duško Šarić sent a message in mid-June 2020 to his brother Darko Šarić, who was then in the custody of the Special Court for Organized Crime. He wanted to inform his brother about the plan to pressure the judges which decided his fate. Duško handed over the phone to the policeman, nicknamed Atos, who worked for the clan.
"We were... at a meeting with the president of the appeal (appellate court). We explained everything to him and the man understood", the corrupt policeman informed Saric.
At that time, Saric was waiting to see what would happen with his appeal against the verdict of the High Court, which sentenced him to 15 years in prison for smuggling almost six tons of cocaine. Everything depended on the panel of the Court of Appeal led by Judge Milimir Lukić. It could have confirmed the verdict, reduced Sarić's sentence, and even released him.
Members of Šarić's clan, as shown by "Sky" messages, therefore gathered a number of influential people who were tasked with coming up with a plan to pressure Judge Lukić. These powerful people who helped them, among whom were important officials, were called by criminals by coded nicknames.
The first idea was to try to exert pressure on Judge Lukić through the President of the Court of Appeal, Duško Milenković.
"Tough for any kind of pressure"
A person from the top of the police, who was called "Edo", met with the president of the court Milenkovic to urge for Saric. An influential agent of the Security Information Agency - BIA, nicknamed "Markus", organized a meeting at the headquarters of the intelligence agency to which he invited Sarić's associates and Milenkovic. The man who was called by the nickname "Dollar" and the name "Nikola P" was particularly rude, and who "tried to get the president of the court to intervene with his sole", according to the messages.
All this, however, was in vain. The president of the court told them that he could not influence judge Lukić because he is "difficult for any type of pressure, except for institutional pressure," a policeman who worked for the clan recounted to Darko Sarić.
Oscar role
Milenkovic allegedly explained to them that their problem could be solved by "only one man" - an all-powerful official whom they called "Oscar". After that, Šarić's group set about finding a solution for Oskar.
"I think Oskar wants to be the one to solve it in the end," explained the policeman to Sarić, using his brother Duško's phone.
At the end of this drama, the Supreme Court expelled Judge Lukić from the panel that decided on Šarić's verdict.
"Imagine a surgeon who before the operation is thoroughly familiar with the scanner image, sees the depth of the health problem, and then is replaced by a new surgeon who is not familiar with that information and who performs the operation - truly absurd," commented judge Lukić for KRIK.
Reduced sentence and house arrest
After that, Sarić's sentence was reduced by one year, and he was released from custody.
These behind-the-scenes operations are now known because French police were able to decipher messages exchanged via a special secure communication app called Sky, which was used by criminal groups around the world. She delivered the messages concerning Šarić's group - including those related to officials who served the drug cartel - to the Serbian prosecutor's office.
Organized crime prosecutor Mladen Nenadić, however, did almost nothing to untangle the network of corruption woven by the Šarić clan.
It also seems that at each subsequent level, from the police to the prosecutor's office, the work on this case was increasingly censored.
The wagon broke on the three lowest in the chain of corruption
Thus, as KRIK reveals, the police identified two officials hiding behind the nicknames Edo and Marcus. The former police minister Nebojša Stefanović and one of the leaders of the BIA, Marko Parezanović, are in question. This is stated in the criminal report that the police submitted on April 15, 2022 to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
This report was filed by the police against Šarić's group, not against Stefanović and Parezanović, but in it they clearly state that they are hiding behind the mentioned nicknames and that they did services for the criminal clan.
In the report, the police did not reveal who Nikola P and Oskar are.
Without the investigation of Stefanović and Parezanović
The prosecution, which received this material from the police, did not initiate an investigation against Stefanović and Parezanović. In the indictment against Šarić's group, the prosecution does not even mention them. To KRIK's questions about this case, the prosecutor's office did not give answers, but only announced that "all international institutions and the public were informed about the results of the completed cases."
In the end, the case broke down on the three lowest in this chain of corruption and command responsibility - Stefanović's associates - police chief Danilo Stojanović and his deputy Milutin Radovanović, who were accused of helping the Šarić clan. Apart from them, SBPOK inspector Duško Mirković was also accused.
Stefanović did not answer the calls and messages of KRIK journalists, and the president of the appeal, Milenkovic, hung up the phone after we introduced ourselves. He did not even answer the questions sent to him through the court.
Parezanović, unlike them, sent written answers to KRIK journalists in which he claimed that he did not own a "Sky" phone nor had any contacts with Šarić's group.
"I never met or spoke with Darko or Duško Šarić, nor did I have any connection with the Šarić clan," Parezanović points out, but says that he was in contact "of a professional nature with senior managers of this ministry (MUP) in the status of authorized officials .”
Read the full text at KRIK portal.
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