Minister of Justice Snezana Malovic stated yesterday in Vienna that Serbia is ready to take all necessary steps to combat organised crime.

At the fifth conference of countries signatories of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), taking place in Vienna, Malovic presented measures which Serbia has undertaken to fight organised crime.

She noted that it was determined that punishing members of organised criminal groups, without seizing their property, was insufficient, because they continued with their criminal activities while serving prison sentences, as their finances were intact.

Over the last two years, the Serbian parliament adopted several laws regarding the implementation of UNTOC, such as the Law on the confiscation of property obtained through crime, the Law on the responsibility of legal persons, the Law on mutual assistance in criminal matters, the Law on the prevention of money laundering and financing terrorism, and amendments to the Criminal Code, Malovic declared.

Serbia also set up a Directorate for Managing Seized Property and a Financial Investigation Unit with the Ministry of the Interior, Malovic added, noting that over 20 decisions on temporary and permanent confiscation of property have so far been made.

She specified that the Directorate is currently managing 70 houses, flats and office premises, 110 cars, nine hotels and restaurants, a farm, 44 hectares of construction land and a shopping centre.

The Directorate’s account contains around €800,000 and monthly rents of €12,000 from leasing immovable property, she noted.

The total value of confiscated property managed by the Directorate is around €200 million, she said.

Malovic pointed out that Serbia was one of the first countries that joined the move of facing a new threat – cyber crime and the Serbian parliament adopted a law enabling sufficient suppression of this form of crime.

All the above mentioned measures and conclusions from the Conference of ministers of justice and the interior of the countries of southeastern Europe held in October last year in Belgrade, contributed to the speeding up of extradition procedures and to the strengthening of international cooperation, she outlined.

This year’s conference that will be held until 22 October will mark ten years of enforcement of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

During her visit to Vienna, Malovic will have a series of bilateral meetings with representatives of justice ministries of other countries with whom she will exchange experience in the fight against organised crime and examine models of improvement of international legal assistance, especially in criminal matters.

She also met with OSCE Secretary-General Perrin de Brichambaut, who commended Serbia’s results in the fight against organised crime and corruption.

We were praised for the results in processing criminal acts and effects of the Law on confiscation of property acquired through crime, she pointed out.