Prosecutors probe alleged destruction of documents at Serbian pension fund
Police will determine what was in the bags, who shredded the files and whether a director abused office.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade has opened a police inquiry into alleged destruction of paperwork at the Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO) after union representatives said they found bags of shredded documents that could implicate the fund's management.
What investigators are examining
Prosecutors ordered police to seize the bags that union members say they recovered and to establish what the documents contained, who destroyed them and on whose instruction. The probe stems from two criminal complaints: one alleging misuse of official position by director Relja Ognjenović, and another alleging unauthorized destruction of documentation by unknown persons.
Authorities have also requested records from the State Audit Institution concerning audits of the Fund's operations for 2022; institutions were given 30 days to produce the requested materials.
Dragan Domazet, a representative of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (ASNS) at the Fund, said that union members "We managed to save several bags. I literally found them in a dumpster." He claimed colleagues had tried to reconstruct parts of the shredded paper and that among the fragments were lists related to political activity, while not ruling out the presence of other types of documents.
The union further alleged that documents were shredded behind locked doors in the directorate and raised concerns about the possible deletion of electronic records. Lawyer Ivan Ninić published photographs of bags filled with shredded paper he said came from the Fund's headquarters.
The PIO responded on October 29 that paper containing confidential data of insured persons and beneficiaries is routinely collected, cut, packed and labelled, and handed over monthly to an authorised person. "The entire process is developed in accordance with international standards and has the sole purpose of protecting citizens' personal data," the Fund said.
On the same day the Chief Public Prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, instructed prosecutors to urgently seek police measures to prevent destruction of official files, following information from state institutions, banks and security services. Reports also said documentation had been secured in several bags in Novi Sad after citizens reported removal of files from a state institution and a local government body; in at least one case material was recovered and checks continue. Separate allegations of document destruction surfaced for KBC Kosovska Mitrovica, which its director Zlatan Elek denied: "In KBC Kosovska Mitrovica nobody destroys, removes or hides official documentation."
Photo: press material from the event
