Indictment allegations
Sovjak: indictment and cleanup contract termination
What is established
The indictment does not establish guilt; the Fund attributes termination to delays, and no causal link to alleged bribery is established.
Open questions
- A later criminal outcome or judgment has not been verified.
- Replacement contract, completion schedule and final extra costs.
- Final recovery account and any remaining loss.
Money journey: what is documented
These stages do not prove that the same euro passed through every step. Grants and contracts may be part of a budget, not additional spending.
Unknown is not zero.
Every amount and its period
Budget / estimate1 amount
Neither the bribe amount nor an established loss. Cost period not stated; contractor termination in 2026 does not establish final loss.
Legal & financial outcomes1 amount
Indictment allegations, not a judgment or established budget loss. Range describes alleged conduct, not the dates of the three individual payments.
What the money tells us
At least €130,000 refers to bribes EPPO alleges were paid in three separate payments. This is an indictment allegation, not court-established damage to the public budget. EPPO’s €44 million figure is the remediation project value, not court-established damage or money irrecoverably lost. Contract termination and preparations to resume work show delivery problems, but the sources do not establish final extra costs, recoveries or an unrecovered loss. These two figures cannot be added as public money lost.
Figures have different purposes and periods. They should not automatically be added together or treated as losses.
Read the full explanation
On 11 June 2024, EPPO issued an indictment alleging bribery and influence trading connected with remediation of the Sovjak pit. An indictment is not a conviction, and no conviction was verified in the collected sources. Separately, the Fund says it terminated the contractor in January 2026 for prolonged delay. The ministry’s 17 July 2026 update describes renewed market research to complete the works. The sources do not establish that the alleged offences caused the contract termination.
Institutions and companies mentioned in the sources
Being mentioned does not establish guilt, ownership or responsibility.
- European Public Prosecutor’s Office
- Fond za zaštitu okoliša i energetsku učinkovitost
- Ministarstvo zaštite okoliša i zelene tranzicije
- European Union Cohesion Fund
Check the sources 5
Open the documents on their publishers’ websites. Links lead to the public originals, not a private archive.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
Other cases in this county
Public information reviewed through · Report an error or request a correction