According to court records, Ceca is the director of Obilić Football Club, once an obscure club that gained first league status after her husband took it over. Ceca took over after his death. In 2003, she was arrested and served four months in prison during Operation Saber, the wholesale crackdown on organized crime following the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. Police found incriminating documents in her Belgrade villa and she was eventually indicted in 2011 with embezzling millions of euros from the club in player transfers. Police also found in the villa a cache of weapons and other articles – 88 in all. Among the objects listed on the official registry of seized property were guns, bullets, binoculars and a pair of thumb handcuffs. She was charged and convicted as well. After time served, she was held under house arrest.
Records show she owns a villa in Cypress along with the one in Belgrade, the latter being used as collateral for a €1.5 million judgment following her conviction. Court records show that the Belgrade house is worth €500,000.
The list of associates and business partners connected to Ceca is diverse and offers insight into her role in society. Ivica Dačić, the Minister of Interior, is a longtime friend and supporter, as are several nationalist politicians who operated with Arkan’s feared paramilitary group, the Tigers. She is a also a partner – and co-defendant – with former football player and brother-in-law Predrag Ocokoljić, and court documents show Ocokoljić threatened to shoot another man in the stomach if he didn’t turn control of a football club Mladi Proleter over to Ceca.
"You don't know who is behind me, which people and what institutions,’’ Ceca told football club director Aleksandar Olarević, in 2007. “You're stealing the club from my orphans. If Arkan is alive, you probably wouldn't do that." Olarević later dropped the charges. (See http://www.reportingproject.net/football/sub_sersidepers.html)
Ceca’s life has been the subject of lore throughout the Balkans. OCCRP’s detailed investigation and documents sort out fact from fiction.
The OCCRP People of Interest project looks at interesting people in the news and provides detailed public records and information to help sort rumor from fact. Inclusion in the People of Interest project does not imply criminality.
CIN-Serbia researched this dossier.
