Novi Pazar: Three Arrested in Fake VAT Scheme
Serbia's Interior Ministry and Tax Police arrested three people from Novi Pazar, suspected of using fake invoices to defraud the budget of nearly 39 million dinars. A fourth suspect is still sought.
Officers of Serbia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) have arrested three people from Novi Pazar on suspicion of tax evasion and tax fraud that cost the state budget more than 38.9 million dinars. The operation, ordered by the Novi Pazar Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, was carried out by members of the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP), the Crime Suppression Service, the Department for Combating Economic Crime and the Novi Pazar Police Department, working together with the Tax Police, the Interior Ministry announced on August 27.
The three arrested are E. A. (born 1988), R. S. (born 1988) and Lj. E. (born 2003), all from Novi Pazar. A criminal complaint against a fourth person, who is still being sought, will be filed in due course for the same offenses.
How the scheme allegedly worked
Investigators suspect the group used forged fiscal receipts and fictitious invoices throughout 2024 and 2025 to claim an unwarranted refund of input value-added tax. Through this method, they allegedly evaded roughly 38,998,341 dinars in tax, a figure the Interior Ministry rounds in its statement to “more than 38.9 million dinars.”
They face charges of tax evasion and tax fraud connected to value-added tax. The suspects have been remanded for up to 48 hours and will be brought before the competent public prosecutor’s office along with the criminal complaint against them.
What happens next in the case
The 48-hour detention period gives prosecutors that window to decide whether to seek pretrial custody in court or release the suspects to defend themselves while at liberty. The fourth participant in the alleged scheme, who according to the statement has not been arrested, remains at large, and a criminal complaint against that person will follow later through the regular procedure.
The Interior Ministry’s statement does not say how the scheme was uncovered or what business activity the suspects declared as the basis for their VAT refund claims. The case now falls under the jurisdiction of the Novi Pazar Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, which ordered the arrests.
