The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is probing potential misuse of EU funds related to the renovation of the Novi Sad Railway Station, confirmed Chief European Prosecutor Laura Koveši to RTS on Tuesday.

She mentioned that the loans under investigation were provided by the European Investment Bank for the railway and station’s reconstruction.

The probe was initiated based on a complaint from an individual.

Kovesi expressed her anticipation for cooperation from Serbia’s prosecutor’s office in gathering information and evidence.

Kovesi clarified that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’s focus is not on the accident that resulted in 15 fatalities, but rather on the possible embezzlement of European funds.

Legal proceedings will take place in Belgium or Luxembourg, where the affected institutions are based, Koveši noted.

She elaborated that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office can also act in non-EU countries if EU funds are involved and there is potential harm to any European institutions.

“We are not investigating the Novi Sad accident; our concern is whether there was embezzlement, corruption, or money laundering regarding European funds allocated for the project,” she stated.

In 2022, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated discussions with Serbia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office to formalize a working arrangement to enhance cooperation and establish communication points.

After forwarding the draft to Belgrade, they are still waiting for a response regarding its signing.

“Meanwhile, I must emphasize that we have sent three requests in different cases to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Serbian prosecutors have cooperated in all instances,” she added.

Protests have persisted in Serbia for over four months, primarily led by students demanding accountability for the collapse of the concrete canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station, which resulted in 15 deaths and severe injuries to two individuals.

The incident has heightened public concerns about corruption and subpar construction quality, claims that authorities deny.

The canopy fell just four months after the grand reopening of the reconstructed Railway Station, which underwent three years of renovations.

This reconstruction was part of the larger project aimed at modernizing the Novi Sad – Subotica – Hungarian border railway. The project was developed by the Serbian division of the China Railway Design Corporation alongside the CIP Transport Institute from Serbia.

The project execution was handed over to the Chinese consortium “CRIC&CCCC,” comprising “China Railway International Co. Ltd” and “China Communications Construction Company Ltd.”

The contract between Serbian authorities and the Chinese partners remains unpublished.

Several cases are currently under investigation concerning the canopy collapse. On December 30, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad indicted 13 individuals on suspicion of negligence related to the canopy’s reconstruction.

Defendants include former Minister of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure Goran Vesić, his assistant Anita Dimoski, and the former director of “Infrastruktura Željeznice Srbije,” Jelena Tanasković.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office (VJT) in Belgrade also filed an indictment linked to the failures that contributed to the canopy collapse on November 1, which took the lives of 15 individuals and seriously injured two others.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime in Belgrade is currently conducting a preliminary investigation regarding the financing of the Novi Sad Railway Station renovation project.

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