Rakovica Indictment Over 10.4 Million Dinar Budget Damage
Belgrade's Higher Public Prosecutor's Office charges a former Rakovica municipal council member and businessman I. V. with fake invoices and money laundering. The court has yet to confirm it.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade has indicted a former member of the Rakovica Municipal Council and the person responsible in two companies. According to a statement published on October 26, 2026, the budgets of Rakovica and the City of Belgrade were damaged by more than 10.4 million dinars. The indictment was filed by the Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption and submitted to the Higher Court in Belgrade, which will decide whether to confirm it.
Who is charged and with what
The indictment names the former council member and I. V., the person responsible in the companies I. V. Trade doo Beograd and MP Trade 2019 doo Beograd. The period it covers runs from October 1, 2018 to November 29, 2023.
The former council member is charged with continuing offenses of abuse of office and forgery of an official document. I. V. is charged with continuing abuse of office as an accomplice and continuing money laundering. Until the court rules on confirmation, this is an accusation, not established guilt.
The sources differ on the former council member’s initials. RTS gives N. R. in the lead of its article and N. B. further down in the same piece. Danas writes N. R., while the Interior Ministry (MUP), announcing the arrest in June 2025, gave N. B. (born 1977).
How the scheme led to the indictment
The council member was in charge of active employment policy projects, the municipal road traffic safety program and the organization of a Job Search Club. Public procurement procedures were carried out for those projects, and contracts were signed with the two companies. As the authorized person overseeing the services, he signed records confirming that the services had been performed.
According to prosecutors, the two men agreed that the companies would issue the municipality false invoices and delivery notes for services that were never provided and goods that were never delivered. The council member signed them, creating the basis for the municipality to pay out the money. The prosecution listed what appeared on those documents in its statement:
“The false delivery notes covered services and the procurement of goods for the alleged delivery of printed material, alleged organization of training for unemployed persons, and alleged filming of events at various locations and of statements, editing of material, provision of filming equipment, burning of video material, then the alleged delivery of promotional material, alleged transport of equipment, setting up and assembly of a course simulating an intersection, and education (lecturer and moderator), an alleged service of organizing training with the support of a professional lecturer and a fee for the project coordinator, the alleged delivery of various kinds of table tents, posters, brochures, survey sheets, pads, the rental of LED screens, the production of a video presentation, project coordinator services and other items.”
According to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, the companies received a total of 10,424,968.02 dinars on those invoices: I. V. Trade 2,207,498.15 and MP Trade 2019 8,217,469.87 dinars.
Where did the money go?
Prosecutors claim that after the payments I. V. withdrew money from the companies’ accounts and transferred part of it to the account of MV Morava, a company he actually controlled. For that, in addition to abuse of office as an accomplice, he is charged with money laundering.
The former council member is also accused of entering false data into official documents. These are the detailed financial reports on funds spent under the traffic safety program, which he sent to the Secretariat for Transport of the Belgrade City Administration.
Arrests in June 2025
The suspects were arrested in June 2025 and ordered held for up to 48 hours. MUP said at the time that one of them was the president of the municipal Road Traffic Safety Council, and it stated the amount of the gain slightly differently than prosecutors do now: 10,424,979 dinars, against 10,424,968.02 in the indictment.
