BELGRADE – The Public Prosecution Office for Organised Crime (TOK) had repeatedly asked the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, both during the pre-investigation and investigation, to examine the responsible persons in Chinese companies engaged in the project of modernisation and reconstruction of the railway from Novi Sad to the state border with Hungary, but this was not done, Radar weekly reports today.
In August 2025, TOK charged several persons, including two former ministers, for financial misconduct during the railway reconstruction. A second case, concerning the security aspects of the reconstruction and the ultimate collapse of the railway station in Novi Sad, is handled by a separate Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad.
Already in September 2025, multiple media outlets reported that TOK’s investigation was being obstructed by the lack of cooperation from other state institutions.
According to TOK, starting from early September 2025 to late March 2026, eight requests for providing the necessary information were submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It stressed for Radar that in early April 2026, a meeting was held with representatives of the Service for Combating Organized Crime (SBPOK) and the Tax Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at which activities that are necessary to be undertaken in the coming period were agreed.
When asked whether the responsible persons in Chinese companies engaged in the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Novi Sad-Subotica state border railway were invited to give a statement regarding the alleged financial misconduct related to the project, the Prosecution Office told Radar that all responsible contractors and subcontractors who were involved in the implementation of the project, in the part covered by the investigation, will be examined in the coming period.
“For some of these persons, there was a request to be examined in pre-trial procedure, which is repeated in a later stage of the proceedings, i.e. the investigation, but for reasons of absence of the members of the Task Force from the Ministry of the Internal Affairs, they were not examined”, the Prosecution Office for Organized Crime said.
It clarified that “the absence of the Task Force of the Ministry of Interior implied that they did not act on the orders of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime for collecting and providing evidence and data related to the investigation”.
“As a result of the meeting, attended by SBPOK and Tax Police, held on 7 April, 2026, a new request was submitted to collect the necessary information, which consolidated all previous requests…. The activities of the Task Force were neither renewed or resumed… The collection of necessary information will be undertaken within the regular activities of the SBPOK and the Tax Police”, the Prosecution Office said.
The Belgrade-Novi Sad-Subotica state border (Hungary) railway project is deeply controversial, primarily due to the fatal collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people.
The tragedy turned a flagship infrastructure project into a symbol of systemic corruption and negligence and triggered a massive wave of protests.
The project was managed through interstate agreements with China, which allowed the Serbian government to bypass national public procurement laws and keep construction documents secret. Critics claim that costs were significantly inflated, with funds allegedly used in non-transparent operations.
The Chinese Embassy denied allegations of receiving an immunity guarantee
On 3 May, Vladimir Obradović, a professor at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade and member of an informal commission investigating the Novi sad tragedy, claimed for Nova.rs that after the incident Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić assured the Chinese ambassador that he would not allow criminal proceedings against the Chinese consortium involved in the reconstruction of the Novi Sad railway station.
Obradović also alleged that the Chinese consortium had been “a boiler room for corruption”.
The Chinese Embassy in Belgrade has denied all these allegations.
“Recently, a television station in Serbia aired an interview with certain individuals in which unfounded claims were made regarding the investigation into the Novi Sad railway station incident, including allegations that the Serbian leadership had sent such messages to our embassy”, the Embassy said in a post on X.
The Embassy also called on media outlets and individuals in Serbia to stop spreading false information.
“We call on the citizens of Serbia to remain vigilant against actions and statements aimed at creating discord in China-Serbia relations and obstructing cooperation between the two countries, and to jointly preserve the steel friendship between China and Serbia”, the statement remarks.
