Novi Sad branch manager took 36.8 million dinars

The Anti-Corruption Service of the Interior Ministry arrested a man identified by the initials M. G. (1991) from Temerin on Friday, July 24. According to police, he worked as the manager of a branch of a telecommunications company headquartered in Belgrade, and the branch he ran is located in Novi Sad.

Police suspect that he kept the company’s money for himself over a period of years. According to the investigation, between January 1, 2023 and November 14, 2025 he withheld payments that had been entrusted to him in the course of his work. The sum in question is 36,821,916 dinars, money that, investigators believe, never reached the company.

On the order of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad, the suspect has been detained for up to 48 hours and will be brought before the prosecutor. For now this is the pre-trial stage, and no guilt has been established by a final court ruling.

How the money allegedly ended up in two apartments

For investigators, the question is not only where the money went, but what happened to it afterward. The suspect is charged not merely with withholding almost 37 million dinars, but with then trying to legalize that money, to hide its origin and blend it into ordinary financial flows.

According to the investigation, part of the money obtained this way went into buying two apartments in Novi Sad. Prosecutors say he did so knowing the funds came from a criminal act, which is a key element when it comes to money laundering. It is exactly this conversion of illegally obtained cash into seemingly clean property, such as real estate, that moves the case from ordinary abuse into the zone of a more serious offense.

That is why the suspect faces two charges. The first is abuse of position by a responsible person, or abuse in the conduct of business activity, since he allegedly used his role as branch manager. The second is money laundering, which relates to what he did with the withheld funds.

The timeline set out by police shows this was not a one-off move. The withholding of payments is believed to have gone on for nearly three years, month after month, until the total shortfall grew to more than 36 million dinars. Such cases are usually uncovered when a company compares its record of payments with the actual balance in its account.

What does the suspect face under the law?

Abuse in the conduct of business activity involving a sum this large carries serious prison sentences, and the money laundering charge further hardens the suspect’s legal position. When two offenses are joined, the court weighs them together, so the final sentence, if a conviction follows, can be considerably higher than for either offense on its own.

For now the investigation faces several tasks. The first is to trace the money precisely, to prove in the books every dinar that failed to reach the company. The second is to link the suspect to the purchase of the two apartments and show that this exact money was used for it. Only once prosecutors close the whole chain, from the withheld payment to the signature at the notary, will they be able to file an indictment.

What makes this case striking is how long it allegedly went on unnoticed. Nearly three years and almost 37 million dinars raise questions not only about the suspect, but about the system of internal controls at the company. How can a shortfall of that size stay hidden for so long, and how many similar cases are waiting to be uncovered?