{"id":12626,"date":"2016-08-08T20:44:42","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T18:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/en\/?p=12626"},"modified":"2016-08-08T20:50:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T18:50:07","slug":"controversial-minister-loncar-to-be-reappointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/en\/controversial-minister-loncar-to-be-reappointed\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial Minister Loncar to Be Reappointed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic announced Monday plans to keep in place controversial Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar, despite reporting by an OCCRP partner showing dealings connecting him to organized crime.<\/p>\n

Loncar was among a list of names, many of them old faces, recommended <\/a>by Vucic for his new cabinet following April elections that saw his Serbian Progressive Party secure a majority in parliament. The list will be debated in parliament on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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In February, OCCRP partner the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) published an investigation<\/a>\u00a0revealing that Loncar received an apartment in 2002 belonging to the wife of a hitman for the Zemun Clan, and later resold it for a profit.<\/p>\n

The revelation followed accusations made more than a decade ago by former gangsters that in 2002 Loncar, then a doctor, had received an apartment as payment for the murder in hospital<\/a> of gangster Veselin Bozovic, a rival of the Zemun Clan who had survived an earlier shooting attack.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference<\/a> at the parliament in Belgrade, Vucic praised his new cabinet team, which included members of the Socialist Party and independents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a government of success, experience and freshness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Watch an illustrative video about KRIK’s investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n