Serbia’s corruption scandal is reaching deeper into the country’s political establishment. Former Economy Minister Rade Basta has been arrested on the orders of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade.
Basta is suspected of causing losses worth tens of millions of dinars to the state-owned company Belgrade Power Plants while serving as its director. Investigators suspect he authorised unjustified donations to various sports clubs, including smaller football and basketball teams, as well as an equestrian sports club.
Anti-Corruption Service officers are carrying out arrests and searches at several locations. Several other individuals linked to Basta are also being detained.
Basta served as Serbia’s Minister of Economy from October 2022 until 2023, when he was dismissed.
His dismissal followed his public demand that the Serbian government urgently take a position on imposing sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine. He later founded the political movement European Path.
Basta had been appointed minister as a member of the United Serbia party (Jedinstvena Srbija). The party subsequently demanded his removal from all party and public positions for which it had nominated him, citing his statements in favour of sanctions against Russia.
Another former minister behind bars, another corruption investigation, and yet another reminder of the deep problems within Serbia’s political establishment. The real test is whether this investigation will expose the networks of abuse behind the scandals—or whether accountability in Serbia will once again stop at a few individual arrests.
