Law professors face bribery charges

Kragujevac, Belgrade, February 23 (Source: B92) - Kragujevac Law Faculty professors suspected of taking bribes will appear before an investigative judge today.

The Special Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade will make an official statement about the bribery case.

Snežana Sokolović, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law in Kragujevac, confirmed that the rumors of bribery indeed circulated at the university. “Nothing has been done about it, since we are talking about informal accusations made by a few students”, she said.

“We have dealt with individual examples, and not with substantiated evidence. We’ve received anonymous letters and warned the targeted professors. However, we can’t launched legal proceedings based on rumors”, Sokolović said.

Rector of Belgrade University Branko Kovačević said that the arrests in Kragujevac reflected “the sad situation that our country is in”.

Kovačević claimed that such police actions shouldn’t occur at universities. “Universities themselves have mechanisms to deal with corruption cases, including the code of ethics, the Court of Honor and disciplinary liability proceedings. Universities should tackle such matters on their own, even at the risk of losing their license”, he said.

Students of the Law Faculty in Kragujevac claim that they warned administrators about corruption among their professors. Law professors allegedly charged EUR 12,000-16,000 for a college diploma, valuing each exam at EUR500-750, which has always been an open secret.

According to research carried out by the Student Union of Serbia (SUS), as many as 74 percent of students say they would pay for an exam. The corruption affects all state universities, and it's high time the state took concrete measures to cut down on corruption, SUS representtaives said. 

The criminal offence of taking bribery envisages sentences ranging from three months to 12 years of imprisonment.

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