Record holder: Vucic received the most gifts in 2019

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is the official who received and reported the most gifts in 2019 – 121, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption announced.

It is stated that in 2019, officials reported 681 gifts received.

The list of public authorities that received the most gifts also includes the Parliament of Serbia – 67 gifts, the Ministry of Defence – 66, the Military Intelligence Agency – 43, and the Government of Serbia – 35 gifts.

A small number of gifts received by officials was kept as personal property – 134, while 547 gifts became public property. The President of Serbia did not keep any items in his personal possession, it is stated in the Catalogue of Gifts last year, which was published by the agency.

Officials received 505 protocol-related gifts and 176 appropriate gifts.

„In 2020, the trend of extremely low response of public authorities for reporting gifts received in 2019 continued, and only 40 authorities reported gifts, which is slightly more than in the previous year (37),“ the Agency pointed out.

Mostly from China and Russia

At the national level, 561 gifts were received, at the local level 91, and at the provincial level 29 gifts.

The monetary value of the largest number of gifts is up to RSD 3,000, a total of 228. Out of that amount, the officials kept 133 gifts in personal possession, while 95 gifts became public property. The most expensive gift, worth RSD 1.2 million, was a copper bust of the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The donors of the largest number of gifts in 2019 are from Serbia (204), followed by China (71), Russia (39), BiH (27), Belarus (18).

Public bodies, which are obliged to keep records of gifts, are obliged to submit data on gifts received in 2020 to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption by March 1 this year at the latest.

The largest number of reported gifts to officials, a total of 729, was recorded in 2017, and the lowest (477) in 2014.

Izvor: Beta

Foto: Beta