Police Remove Bags From PIO Fund, Then Enter Ministry

Officers of the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP) carried black bags and boxes out of the Republic PIO Fund building at 9 Dr Aleksandra Kostica Street in Belgrade on the morning of October 30, over suspicions that official documents were being destroyed inside the institution. In the afternoon, according to the portal Nova.rs, the UKP also entered the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure. The reason for that visit is not yet known.

We earlier reported a claim by the employees’ union that papers were being shredded at the PIO Fund. That claim has now led to a police operation, and the same day brings reports of document destruction at other state institutions.

What happened at the PIO Fund building?

According to Dragan Domazet, the chief steward of the ASNS union at the PIO Fund, police came after a statement he gave late on the evening of October 29. Domazet described the operation to Insajder:

“I had to respond, so that this morning they decided to come and seize those items. They issued an official receipt, they were very correct and professional, everything was done properly from a technical standpoint, itemized, and the appropriate receipt was issued. Representatives of the Fund’s management were present, along with the rest of us who are involved, and the colleague who had the items. There were about six or seven officers.”

Director Relja Ognjenovic was not present, Domazet says. The deputy director of the general and legal affairs sector was there instead. The bags were moved by Slobodan Bokic, head of the archive at the PIO Fund and a union steward. Asked whether management tried to seize the material the employees had saved, Domazet answered:

“They did not manage to find the seized material. My colleague hid it very well, not me personally. I gave the statement, but I absolutely did not know where these materials were.”

According to him, the union managed to save only part of the material. “Most of it, unfortunately, was taken away and probably destroyed somewhere,” Domazet told Insajder. A video published by the Instagram account Ekostraza shows police officers in the building while employees applaud them.

What does the union claim, and how does the PIO Fund respond?

In a statement, the ASNS union says documents have been destroyed since October 25, day and night. Domazet signed the letter:

“The documentation is being thoroughly destroyed by machines (shredders) behind the locked doors of certain offices on the third floor of the headquarters of the RF PIO Directorate at 9 Dr Aleksandra Kostica Street in Belgrade.”

Lawyer Ivan Ninic had earlier posted photos of black bags full of paper on X. “The shredder is running, it doesn’t stop, something is simply being torn up, and something is being shredded to the maximum and carried out to dumpsters,” he wrote.

In a statement, the PIO Fund replies that shredding is part of regular operations. According to the statement, the shredded material is packed, labeled and handed over once a month to an authorized person. The Fund said:

“Such materials contain numerous confidential data of insured persons and beneficiaries, which is why the PIO Fund is obliged to shred them and dispose of them in an adequate manner, in accordance with the legal framework of the Republic of Serbia and ISO standards.”

Two criminal complaints have been filed against Ognjenovic and unnamed responsible persons, over suspected abuse of official position, negligent performance of duty, and destruction of official documents and evidence. On Wednesday, October 28, the Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade ordered the police to gather information on both complaints. The prosecutors also asked for a check of claims that the PIO Fund used the Serbian Post to send a letter from the president of Serbia to pensioners and social benefit recipients. The police have 30 days to respond.

Why did police enter the Ministry of Construction?

For now, that is not known. At 1.17 pm, Nova.rs reported that UKP officers had entered the ministry’s premises, and that it is not known whether they are collecting documents as part of an investigation. According to that portal, Minister Aleksandra Sofronijevic was called out of a government session, and the newsroom called her several times without an answer.

The ministry’s state secretary, Ranko Sekularac, would not give details. He said the situation is complex and that he has no mandate to speak about it. “State bodies should do their job. Please contact the minister’s cabinet,” Sekularac told Nova.rs. N1 sent questions to the ministry, and no answer had arrived by publication. Sources do not say whether the visit is connected to the PIO Fund case.

Which other institutions are named in the reports?

On October 29, the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office issued a mandatory instruction to all chief public prosecutors and acting heads. They must urgently ask the police for measures against the destruction of official documents in state institutions, banks, the BIA, the VOA and other institutions, and check whether there is a criminal offense under Article 328 of the Criminal Code (taking or destroying an official seal and official document).

New claims followed, none of which sources have confirmed:

• Students of the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad published photos of documents that, they claim, were supposed to be destroyed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Workers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have just managed to prevent the shredding of documents,” they wrote on their X account. The ministry did not answer Nova.rs’s questions.
• Sara el Sarag, a candidate of the Student List, told N1 that she reported to the police that papers are being destroyed in the public procurement department of the Ministry of Health. “I reported to the police that this is happening right now, whether they will act or not,” she said.
• Danas writes that, according to several unnamed police officers from Subotica, a BIA operative carried out a bag of documents between 9.50 and 10.30 am and threw it into a dumpster in the yard of the Subotica Police Department building, where the BIA has offices on the fourth floor. One source in the Subotica police told Danas: “He went out the back door into the yard of the building and threw the bag of documents into the dumpster that stands in the yard.” About ten minutes later, a City Sanitation truck emptied the dumpster, and the sources claim it is normally not emptied on Fridays.

The “Belgrade Stays” movement announced on October 29 that it had obtained bags of shredded documents which, it says, were taken out of the Ministry of Finance and the Directorate for Joint Services. The movement says it will hand the documents to the competent authorities after consulting the Student List.