EDUCATION MAFIA ARRESTED ON BRIBERY CHARGES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BELGRADE 000303 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON KCRM KCOR PREL SR SUBJECT: EDUCATION MAFIA ARRESTED ON BRIBERY CHARGES SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Serbian police have arrested 18 people, including 12 university teachers, in an ongoing investigation of rampant corruption at the Law Faculty of Kragujevac University. The arrests, all occurring since February 20, include Assistant Minister of Education Emilija Stankovic, Sveta Puric, rector of the Kragujevac Law Faculty, and deputy rector Bozin Vlaskovic. All are suspected of taking bribes over a long period of time in exchange for issuing passing grades to law students who did not sit for exams. The arrests were a result of a seven-month operation that included an undercover agent who enrolled in the law school and paid to pass exams and get a diploma. END SUMMARY. EDUCATION MAFIA -------------- ¶2. (U) The members of the so called "education mafia", as they already have been labeled by the media, are accused of selling degrees from the Kragujevac Law Faculty to students for EUR 12,000 to 16,000; they allegedly sold passing grades on individual exams for EUR 500 to 750. While checking the faculty archive, police learned that some students even "took exams" before they were officially enrolled at the faculty. All of the arrested professors were found to have more than one apartment and had been living well beyond their means, according to press reports. For example, Assistant Minister Stankovic was driving a BMW worth EUR 70,000, and police found EUR 40,000 cash in the apartment of one arrested professor. (Note: Average salaries for law faculty professors are approximately EUR 2,500 month.) The Law Faculty has suspended all of the arrested professors from work. ¶3. (SBU) Milan Parivodic, Minister of International Economic Relations and acting Minister of Finance, told the Ambassador on February 21 that he had learned from friends at the law faculty that the accused Assistant Minister Stankovic had worked out a deal with seven students to buy passing grades in her Roman Law class for a total of EUR 3,500. The students collected the money and delivered it to her with their student indexes. After she signed their indexes with passing grades, the students waited outside for her. According to the minister's account, as Stankovic was leaving the building, the students beat her, took their money back, and walked away with the money and the grades in their indexes. OPERATION "INDEX" -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The investigation, under the operational name "Index" (a student booklet in which grades are registered) began in June 2006 in cooperation with the Special Organized Crime Prosecution Department in Belgrade. Milorad Veljovic, director of police at the Ministry of Interior told our International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) office that police learned of the law faculty corruption in a plea bargain with one of the mediators who had been arrested for auto theft in a separate incident. This police officer from Smederevo went undercover as a student and used hidden cameras to record every payment transaction at the Faculty. Veljovic told the ICITAP office that the police action in Kragujevac was a result of USG assistance of specialized anti-corruption training and other assistance to the police. ¶5. (U) The investigation is ongoing and could spread to other institutions of higher learning where the incriminated professors lectured. A police statement said that the professors are suspected of taking bribes from a large number of students in exchange for passing grades over a long period of time. In accordance with the Serbian criminal code, the arrested professors face jail time from three months to 12 years if they are convicted on charges of receiving bribes. PROFESSORS SURPRISED, CITIZENS ELATED -------------- ¶6. (U) Members of the academic community were not surprised by the arrests, and reactions were mixed. Milos Djuran, dean of the Kragujevac University, first learned of the police action from the media and said that each of the accused should be held responsible. Branko Kovacevic, Dean of Belgrade University, shared BELGRADE 00000303 002 OF 003 similar sentiments, adding that these professors should not be allowed to work at the university. However, he questioned the credibility of the police, claiming that they had protected criminals in the past, and added that these charges must be proved first. Other professors interviewed by the media, rather than expressing concern over systemic corruption, complained that police actions damaged the credibility of their profession. ¶7. (U) Citizens and students from Kragujevac welcomed the police action. The Student Union of Serbia (SUS) said that it was not surprised by these arrests, claiming that it had been warning authorities about corruption, "which exists in all universities in Serbia." SUS said the university system in general is still not reformed, retaining values and rules from the Milosevic era. SUS organized a campaign in 2005 publicizing its contention that bribery, document counterfeiting, non-transparency in work, and forcing students to buy books written by the professors were examples of pervasive corruption throughout Serbia's universities. SUS is asking that the investigation be expanded to include the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kosovska Mitrovica. ¶8. (U) Nemanja Stamencic from SUS told econ FSN that SUS would announce on Monday, March 5, another corruption case at a university. The Ministry of Education and Sport announced on February 28 the creation of a hotline for citizens to report incidents of corruption in universities upon the request of student organizations. However, Stamencic noted that SUS for some time has had its own email address for reporting corruption; he sees the ministry as attempting to polish its image after the arrest of the assistant minister. ARRESTED PROFESSORS HELD HIGH POLITICAL POSITIONS -------------- -------------- ¶9. (U) Some of the arrested professors were politically active and held high positions in political parties. Assistant minister Stankovic, a nominee of Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, was dismissed from her position at the ministry shortly after her arrest. (It is not clear how active she was in the party.) According to media reports, one of those arrested is professor Predrag Stojanovic, who was a Fulbright scholar, vice-chairman of Vladan BaticQs Christian Democratic Party of Serbia (DHSS) and the partyQs representative in the Serbian parliament from 2001 to ¶2004. During the last election, Stojanovic ran on the list of Cedomir JovanovicQs Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),but was not elected to the parliament. Professor Srdjan Djordjevic was a member of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) during the 90's, but changed parties a few years ago and became a member of DHSS. Djordjevic was also a judge of the Constitutional Court in 2006. DIPLOMAS FROM SERBIA NOW IN QUESTION -------------- ¶10. (U) As a consequence of these allegations, local press reports that the Greek Ministry of Education has decided to put a freeze on recognition of diplomas from Serbian universities after discovering a number of false diplomas that Greek students brought home from Serbia. ¶11. (U) Dean Kovacevic, of the Belgrade university, described Greece's move as an "unpleasant overreaction" to a case that is an exception. Local media reported him as saying that Belgrade University has processes in place to check corruption and expel anyone guilty of giving or receiving bribes before police get involved. To date, there have been no public cases of professors or students being expelled or diplomas annulled at Belgrade University, indicating that the university is extraordinarily clean, that its disciplinary procedures are effective, or that the current system is not working in catching corruption. ¶12. (U) The police, in conjunction with the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime, have been targeting corruption in higher education in recent years. In 2006, police arrested the dean and deputy dean of the private Faculty of Dentistry in Pancevo for issuing false official documents and for tax evasion. They are charged with taking more than EUR 1 million from students. In November 2005, the police arrested BELGRADE 00000303 003 OF 003 three employees from the Belgrade University Faculty of Dentistry for corruption and mediation in receiving bribes. At the beginning of 2006, the director of the College of Nursing in Cuprija and his associates were dismissed for abuse of their official positions, although it is not clear that the activity involved selling grades. COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (U) The increasing number of arrests of public officials on corruption allegations is a positive development. These arrests have occurred in several different instutions: not just in education, but also in the Supreme Court, Commercial Courts, Customs, even the toll operation of the highway department. There have been no convictions to date, and time will tell whether Serbia is serious about its anti-corruption initiatives. But the recognition by the police director that USG anti-corruption assistance is producing tangible results illustrates the value of sustaining Embassy programming in this area. POLT