FELL BECAUSE OF 14 TENDERS AND 2.5 MILLION EUROS: Four arrested in Novi Sad, among them the uncle of Nikola Jokić!

The police announced today that four people were arrested in Novi Sad on suspicion of committing multiple malversations involving tax and money laundering, and among those detained was the former director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Novi Sad, Siniša Jokić, the uncle of celebrated basketball player Nikola Jokić.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced today that due to the existence of grounds for suspicion of committing criminal acts of abuse of official position in aiding, money laundering, abuse in connection with public procurement, tax evasion, tax fraud in connection with value-added tax, and falsification of an official document, the police arrested the responsible person of the company “Prima Idea doo,” I. P. (45), while S. J. (57), the former responsible person of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad, is charged with the prolonged criminal act of abuse of official position and trading in influence.

This refers to Siniša Jokić, the uncle of basketball player Nikola Jokić, who is already known to the public, writes Razglas News.

Jokić was previously on the list of persons for arrest as part of the investigation into the fall of the canopy at the Railway Station in Novi Sad in August 2025. The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime then ordered the police to detain several people in the investigation of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad, including Jokić.

Prominent official of the SNS

Jokić is an historian by profession and a well-known name to the Novi Sad public. He is a prominent official of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the former director of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Novi Sad, the portal Nova.rs published. He resigned from that position on October 27, 2024, four days before the fall of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station.

Jokić served as the director of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Novi Sad since 2016, as well as during the time of the reconstruction of the entire Novi Sad – Subotica railway line. He submitted his resignation on October 27 last year, and Dalibor Rožić was appointed as acting director in his place.

Siniša Jokić is now in the position of curator of the Museum of the City of Novi Sad.

Jokić’s “re-election was preceded by the announcement of the reconstruction of dozens of facades of some of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Novi Sad, a project for whose realization Jokić himself is one of the most deserving,” the portal NSuživo wrote in 2021.

Media wrote about Siniša Jokić back in November 2022, where, as the director of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Novi Sad, he refused to answer questions about the damage to the Ban’s Palace building during the construction work on an underground garage, as well as what the institution had done to protect the buildings within the Banovina complex, Nova Ekonomija previously wrote.

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Who was all detained?

In addition to Jokić and I. P., the police arrested N. M. (49), the responsible person of the Foundation “Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture,” on suspicion of committing the criminal act of negligent work in the service, and a criminal report will be filed against V. N. (58), an employee of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad, due to the existence of grounds for suspicion of committing the prolonged criminal act of abuse of official position.

It is suspected that S. J., together with V. N., carried out 14 public procurement procedures with a total contract value of 271,026,493 dinars, in which, by prior agreement, they awarded public procurement contracts to the company “Prima Idea doo,” whose responsible person is I. P., knowing that the company would not fully perform the tasks that were the subject of the public procurements.

It is suspected that, toward this goal, they adjusted the conditions for this company and accepted the bids submitted by the company, even though the conditions for this were not met.

It is suspected that I. P. aided in the execution of the aforementioned criminal acts by submitting bids accompanied by false documentation, and after payments were made, by transferring funds to personal accounts, withdrawing cash, and converting funds, she laundered illegally acquired funds in an amount exceeding 300,000,000 dinars.

Through the aforementioned actions, she is suspected of avoiding tax payments in an amount exceeding 20,000,000 dinars.

N. M. is suspected of enabling the unfounded payment of funds to the same company in an amount exceeding 10,000,000 dinars through the negligent performance of service.