Maja Popovic: Agency says last asset report was Jan. 16

The Anti-Corruption Agency commented on October 5, 2026 on the assets of Constitutional Court judge Maja Popovic, five days after KRIK reported that the former justice minister bought an apartment in Vracar that does not appear in her asset declaration. In a written reply to Nova.rs, the Agency said Popovic filed her last report on assets and income on January 16, 2026, and that Constitutional Court judges are included in this year’s audit plan.

What did the Agency tell Nova.rs?

The Agency said that a check of the Register of Assets and Income of Public Officials showed Popovic had filed reports in line with the legal provisions on asset declaration. It gave the date of her last report as follows:

“Public official Maja Popovic filed her last Report on Assets and Income with the Agency on January 16, 2026. All data on the assets and income of the named official, which she declared in her reports and which are publicly available under Article 73 of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, can be found on the Agency’s website.”

The Agency also explained that an official reports a significant change in assets through an extraordinary report, with the situation as of December 31 of the current year, no later than May 15 of the following year, when the deadline for the annual tax return expires. It defined a significant change this way:

“A significant change exists when assets or income have increased or decreased, compared with the previous Report, by more than the average annual salary without taxes and contributions in the Republic of Serbia, or when the structure of those assets has changed.”

The Agency’s annual audit plan for 2026, published on its website, provides that Constitutional Court judges will be among the officials whose reports are checked. The parts of the reply published by Nova.rs do not mention the Vracar apartment or whether buying it would count as a significant change.

What did KRIK report on September 30?

According to KRIK, the apartment has three rooms and 122 square meters, in a residential and commercial complex with 50 housing units. A real estate agency hired by KRIK valued it at about half a million euros. Documents obtained by the newsroom show that Popovic took out a loan of 150,000 euros in September 2025 to buy it while it was still under construction. It is not known how much was finally paid for the property, or what sources covered the rest of the estimated value.

In her January 2026 declaration, Popovic listed a monthly salary of 794,000 dinars. KRIK puts the total assets of her and her husband Rastko Popovic, deputy president of the Belgrade Court of Appeal, at about 1.5 million euros, counting five apartments in Belgrade and Budva it had reported on earlier. Popovic did not answer KRIK’s questions before publication, and the newsroom says it also received no reply from the Agency.

Popovic was justice minister from 2020 to 2025 and was elected a Constitutional Court judge in December 2025, on the proposal of President Aleksandar Vucic.

How did Maja Popovic respond?

Popovic rejected the claims in a statement on the same day, September 30:

“I did not buy the apartment in the way it was presented in the published text, nor did I conceal my assets from the competent authorities. I fulfilled my legal obligations on asset declaration in accordance with the regulations.”

In the same statement she said the story was being pushed in the middle of an election campaign:

“It is particularly telling that a story like this is being pushed right in the middle of an election campaign. The timing, the way it is presented and the attempt to pass unverified allegations off as undisputed facts leave a clear impression that the goal is not objective public information, but my discreditation and the discreditation of the institutions in which I held and still hold responsible state functions.”

She closed the statement with the sentence: “I will answer every untrue claim with facts and appropriate legal remedies.”