In mid March 2016, the Ministry of Justice announced a public tender for the allocation of funds raised from prosecution deferral with aAlmost EUR 3 million was raised from prosecution deferral and forwarded to children, the sick, artists... purpose to use the funds for financing the projects of public interest from different fields, health, education, culture...

Today, Minister of Justice Nikola Selaković awarded 67 contracts to the winners of the Tender for the allocation of funds raised from prosecution deferral in a total amount of EUR 2.86 million.

The Tender was conducted by the Ministry of Justice Commission consisting of the representatives of relevant institutions. At the Commission’s proposal, the Government adopted a decision on the allocation of funds raised from prosecution deferral, on a meeting held on 30 June 2016.

“The Tender is a result of the application of special measures from our Anti-Corruption Action Plan. The Plan envisages centralisation implementation by creating a single calculation system for the collection of funds from prosecution deferral“, Selaković said.

According to him, over 1,200 projects were submitted for the Tender, and 67 of them were unanimously selected.

“I feel sorry that a large number of projects that deserve attention did not pass the first round and were not included in the selected 67 projects, however, there will be other opportunities“, Minister Selaković said.

In this first tender, the Commission is prioritising the health care field, to which it allocated funds in a total amount of RSD 184,702,472. In addition to the Ministry of Health, 22 additional health care institutions received funds through projects.

“These are significant funds, considering what the Ministry of Health submitted as a project, which is the purchase of new ambulances, and I am absolutely convinced that these are goods that will serve to the majority of our citizens, because the number of beneficiaries of these goods is large and, therefore, they really deserve this donation”, Selaković said.

He pointed out that RSD 78 million were allocated to the field of social protection, RSD 40 million to culture, and 39 million to the projects in the field of education.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Justice will monitor in detail each of these projects, and the manner in which the money is spent.

Minister of Health Zlatibor Lončar reminded that an ambulance is a mobile hospital on which lives of many people depend.

“The better vehicles we have, the more lives we will be able to save. I would like to thank to the Minister of Justice, Prosecutor's Offices, and the Commission for recognising the need to renew our fleet. We purchased 64 vehicles in two years, however, this is not enough for the whole Serbia“, Lončar said.

He said that money would be used for equipment, particularly for children's hospitals.

“Incubators and ultrasounds will be purchased… I think that this campaign is good and results will be visible“, Lončar said and reminded that a campaign to purchase 30 ambulances was initiated in 2005, which never took place.

Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Aleksandar Vulin thanked to Selaković for the initiation.

“For the first time, a state authority outside the Ministry of Labour assisted directly to the social protection system. For the first time, outside of our budget, a state authority said that the social protection system is important and that people included deserve help. Those RSD 78 million that exceed our budget are the largest donation we have ever received“, Minister Vulin said.

Minister of Education Srđan Verbić also expressed gratitude for the funds and said that the Ministry was not able to cover all the needs in terms of the rebuilding of educational institutions infrastructure.

In mid March 2016, the Ministry of Justice announced a public tender for the allocation of funds raised from prosecution deferral with a purpose to use the funds for financing the projects of public interest in different fields, health, education, culture…

Every beneficiary of the funds is obliged to spend the money within a certain time limit and submit a report to the Commission on how the funds were spent, which have to be spend for what they were earmarked. Beneficiaries are also obliged to enable to the Commission to monitor the implementation of a project to which money was allocated, and any misuse of the funds implies the money return obligation.

The list includes primary schools, gerontology centers, health centers, the Institute of Neonatology in Belgrade, social work centers, monastery Visoki Dečani…

One of the recipients of the funds is “Čika Boca”, Association of Parents and Custodians of Cancer Treated Children.

“The funds we obtained on this occasion are funds for the organisation of 4th camp for cancer treated children “We Can do Everything“, which starts on 9 July on Zlatar Lake. This is a typical camp and some form of rehabilitation for the children. In our camps, we try to show to the children that, no matter that they spent so much time in treatments, and some of the children have become disabled for life, without an arm or leg, with brain surgeries, and regardless of all that happened to them in their childhood, they can continue with their life as any other child“ Vladimir Radulović, representative of “Čika Boca“ Association, said.

Source: Telegraf