The EU representatives met with the Bosnian state parliament, the parliamentary representatives from Bosnia’s two entities - Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina - and representatives from Brcko district. The Monday meeting was the first in a series of events in the “Parliament for Europe” initiative organized by the EU, with the goal of advancing Bosnia’s efforts to join the European Union.
Six individuals responsible for importing and distributing dangerous counterfeit medicines across
Two British citizens were arrested in the
Verica Barac, who led
Barac is widely credited with building the capacity of the anti-corruption council in order to fight graft even at the highest levels of Serbian politics. In 2003, she was elected president of the nascent anti-corruption council (it was founded in 2001) and began uncovering corruption scandals related to the former Yugoslavian country’s unwieldy privatization process.
HIDAA announced Saturday that it charged Myrvete Pazaj with filing false income declarations that hid information about her financial assets.
An estimated ten thousand Montenegrins gathered in the capital Podgorica on Sunday, to protest what they said is widespread corruption. The crowd called on the government to protect the interests of the people rather than those of corrupt officials and business tycoons.
The protest, whose slogan was “It is time,” was co-organized by the Network for Affirmation of the Nongovernment Sector (MANS), the Free Trade Unions and the Students’ Union.
It was one of the largest anti-corruption protests to take place in
A former basketball player who played for the Yugoslav national team and for Red Star Belgrade has been arrested in Athens on suspicion that she is a member of the Pink Panthers, an international jewel thief network identified by Interpol.
Former basketball player Olivera Vasic Cirkovic is one of three Serbians who were arrested last week for planning an armed robbery, reports the Serbian daily Blic.
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to create a special parliamentary commission dedicated to monitoring and determining the extent of money laundering, organized crime and corruption in the European Union (EU), a European Parliament spokesperson announced Thursday.
The commission will also recommend measures to combat organized crime and corruption no later than April 2013.
The Ukrainian parliament adopted a new customs code aimed at making the customs law more transparent and more efficient, announced the legislative body on Thursday.
148 Amendments were added to the existing law, including a ban on the confiscation of goods and vehicles and tighter time constraints for clearing customs. From now on, travelers have the right to cross the border within four hours and cannot be detained longer by customs officials. Moreover, the Customs Agency was also stripped of its right to execute decisions that should be left to the country’s court system.
The Russian Interior Ministry is investigating several commercial banks for illegally transferring around US$3.3 billionout of Russia, Interior Ministry deputy head of economic security Andrei Zdor announced Thursday.
“The unlawful scheme involved a chain of deals for the purchase and sale of shares from leading Russian companies where the sellers and the buyers were offshore companies and shell firms controlled by their organizers,” said Zdor. He referred to the organizers as a “criminal group,” adding that they could soon be arrested.
A second unsuccessful attempt to elect an appellate prosecutor on Thursday was accompanied by 20 members of the Bulgarian Anti-mafia Movement who picketed outside of the Central Court building in the capital city of Sofia. The protesters carried signs accusing the prosecutors of property fraud and ties with the mafia.
Sofia’s appellate prosecutor is elected by Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council (VSS). In November, the VSS was split over candidates, and no candidate got the required 13 votes to win.