In Serbia, an investigation is underway against the former rector of the University of Kragujevac, Nebojša Arsenijević, and the former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Predrag Čanović.
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They are accused of abusing their authority to favor the awarding of diplomas to Albanians and citizens of Croatia and to obtain multimillion-dollar benefits.
Arsenijević and Čanović were arrested by order of the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Kraljevo, and they are suspected of influence peddling and abuse of official position.
According to Serbian media reports, which are referred to by the Hina agency, they illegally mediated the enrollment of 45 Croatian citizens to the third year of the Vocational Nurse/Technician study program in the 2013/2014 academic year, contrary to the regulations for the enrollment of foreign nationals in study programs and they were enabled to obtain 44 diplomas.
According to the statement of the MUP (Ministry of Internatl Affairs), P. Č. is suspected of facilitating the enrollment and education in the third year of professional studies for a total of 45 nurses who completed the first two years of studies at the faculty in Zenica, Bosnia, with classes held in Pula, Croatia, which is run under the label European Center for Peace and Development, whereby, as stated, "students signed contracts with the European Center for Peace and Development".
It is suspected that 44 diplomas were issued for the acquired professional title of Professional Nurse/Technician, and that financial obligations were not settled, which caused damage to the University of Kragujevac in the amount of 22.8 thousand euros, and the budget of Serbia in the amount of 2.7 thousand euros, and to the Faculty of Medical Sciences in the name of unpaid school fees in the total amount of 48.2 thousand euros.
According to the Croatian media, 13 nurses with diplomas from Kragujevac work in Croatian healthcare, and their validity will be determined after the investigation.
Through mediation, it was also possible for an unnamed Croatian citizen, a student of the European Center for Peace and Development, to defend his doctoral dissertation and obtain a doctor of science degree, without having been enrolled as a student at the faculty in Kragujevac, nor had he settled his financial obligations to the faculty and university.
By enabling the defense of a doctoral dissertation and the issuance of diplomas to a Croatian citizen, the suspects, as stated, damaged the University of Kragujevac in the amount of at least 700 euros, the budget of Serbia for a tenth of that sum, and the Faculty of Medical Sciences in the name of unpaid tuition fees for foreign citizens in the total amount from 6,970 euros.
Dnevnik Nova TV has learned that among the students was the wife of Peđa Grbin, the head of SDP, the largest oposition party in Croatia. Grbin told Nova TV that they are amazed and that the nurses are neither to blame nor responsible for finding themselves in the problem.
The entire schooling, he claims, took place in Pula, and only the names of the institutions that managed everything and the indexes changed. ■
A trailing cold front in connection with a low pressure system currently moving east across the Great Lakes toward New England will bring a chance of rain into the eastern U.S. on this first day of November following an exceptionally dry October for this part of the country.