Serbia’s police raided the offices of at least four civil society organizations on Tuesday as part of a probe into allegations of abuse of U.S. Agency for International Development funds in the Balkan country, writes apnews.com.
This comes after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump froze foreign funding for 90 days in January and has since taken steps to dismantle the aid agency, firing over a thousand workers.
State prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic said Serbia has asked the U.S. Department of Justice for information about potential abuse of funds and money laundering concerning USAID funds in Serbia, citing statements by Trump, State Secretary Marco Rubio, tech billionaire Elon Musk and other U.S. officials about the USAID fund freeze.
A special anti-corruption department has asked the police to “collect necessary intel to check the information and collect evidence regarding suspicions of non-targeted spending of USAID funds, abuse of funds and possible money laundering”, - Stefanovic said.