Tepic: European Serbia Launches Anti-Corruption Radar

Marinika Tepic, deputy president of the Party of Freedom and Justice, announced on Tuesday that the European Serbia list, if it wins voters’ trust in the snap parliamentary elections on October 25, will introduce a mandatory, systematic check of every major public contract before it is signed and before any money changes hands. The statement was released Tuesday morning. Tepic is one of the lead candidates on the list, which brings together the Party of Freedom and Justice, the movement Srbija Centar, and the movement Solidarnost.

According to Tepic, the check would cover the real owner of any company bidding for a contract, related parties, subcontractors, and any possible ties to state officials, commission members, heads of public enterprises, and financiers of political parties.

“We will introduce an anti-corruption radar for public money, because a company close to an official cannot be allowed to land a contract worth millions only for the question of who actually owns it to come up afterward. The value of a contract cannot balloon through annexes without the system having flagged the risk in advance, and political connections cannot be something we check only after the job is already done and the public money already spent,” Tepic said.

Tepic singled out the practice of inflating contract values through later annexes as a particular risk, one she says the system should catch in advance, before the money is spent, rather than only after an audit or investigation establishes the damage.

What happens if the check flags a risk?

Under the model she outlined, every major public contract would go through a set of checks before it could even be signed.

“Who is the real owner? Who are the related parties? Who are the subcontractors? Is there a connection to state officials, commission members, heads of public enterprises, or financiers of political parties?” Tepic said, adding that the result of the check would carry a concrete consequence.

If a check triggers a “red alert,” the contract would be put on hold until the competent authority issues a reasoned opinion. The point of the mechanism, she explained, is to catch the risk of corruption before public money is spent, not after a scandal has already broken.

“We want a system in which the risk of corruption is caught before public money is spent, not only once a scandal has already happened,” Tepic stressed.

Part of the announcement also covers transparency for contracts that have already been signed. Under the proposal, every major state contract would get a public file: the contract itself, its annexes, decisions, and relevant financial documentation would all be available to citizens. Companies, individuals, and related parties who have been convicted, or who are under investigation, for corruption, money laundering, or rigging public procurement would be barred from winning any contract funded with public money.

“The state budget is not a party’s cash box, nor an ATM for the privileged,” Tepic said, adding that every dinar must be traceable and accountable, and that citizens have the right to know how their money is spent.

The European Serbia list earlier submitted 10,200 signatures of support to the Republic Election Commission in mid September to qualify for the snap parliamentary elections, as Srpske Novine reported at the time. The anti-corruption measure is the first concrete policy point the list has put before the public since its candidacy was formally confirmed, ahead of the vote scheduled for October 25.