Vladan Vasić, the mayor of Pirot, announced today that the city will sue the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) if the 400 million dinars tied up in Alta Bank are not returned by the end of November.
“The funds were invested entirely lawfully, through the NBS system, and there was nothing to indicate that the bank was experiencing problems in its operations. If the competent authorities fail to make an appropriate decision, the city is considering legal action, even against the NBS,” Vasić told N1, as reported by the Beta news agency.
As reported, Alta Bank, which was declared bankrupt on November 3, has created an emergency situation in numerous local governments in southern Serbia. The same amount of money is also tied up in the bank by the municipality of Vladičin Han.
“We have been doing this for almost 19 years, so this is not a new practice. Our guiding principle has been that the citizens’ money in Pirot should earn interest rather than sit idle. It is deposited in a bank that pays interest, and over these 19 years we have earned more than 140 million dinars, which has been used in the city budget to fund various municipal services,” Vasić explained.
He stressed that the practice was entirely lawful, based on the relevant provisions of both the Budget System Law and the Public Debt Law.
“I must point out that we have no business relationship with the bank whatsoever. We do not have a business account there, we do not deposit money directly with the bank, and we do not make any payments through it. Everything we do goes through the Treasury account within the NBS system, which is why we were convinced that the money was protected,” he said.
He emphasized that one of the NBS’s primary responsibilities is to monitor the banking sector, provide citizens and businesses with information about it, and protect public funds.
Asked whether this meant that the money should now be held by the NBS, Vasić said he could not say for certain, but hoped that was the case.
“We have never taken the City of Pirot’s money outside the NBS system. The funds were placed through so-called overnight deposits, and they must be returned every morning, by 10 a.m. On that Friday, October 30, the money was not returned. I do not know why; it was probably due to a disruption in the payment system caused by the National Bank or someone else,” the mayor said.
He added that, for this reason, they had submitted a request to the Commercial Court in Belgrade and the Deposit Insurance Agency, seeking the return of the money to the City of Pirot’s enforcement account.
“I hope that this exclusion claim will indeed be properly examined. We have supported it with arguments and even hired a court-appointed expert, who fully confirmed our position. I hope the claim will be upheld,” he added.
He said the request was submitted on November 4, one day after bankruptcy proceedings were declared at Alta Bank.
“I believe the deadlines are somewhere between 20 and 25 days, including the bankruptcy court’s decision, which means by the end of November,” he said. He added that he was considering taking legal action if the competent authorities issued a decision that was not satisfactory, although he doubted that would happen, because the city had all the arguments on its side.
“Our arguments are solid, because, bear in mind, this is our property. We are also considering filing a lawsuit, and I will discuss it with the people heading other local governments that have also suffered losses, to see whether we should consider legal action against the NBS as well,” he stressed.
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Source: Izlaz.com, Foto: Antonio Ahel / ATAImages; Printscreen Instagram
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