Serbia’s Anti-Corruption Agency confirmed that Minister Snežana Paunović drew a salary as acting director of a Kosovo pharmacy institution that was officially dissolved in 2021. The agency ruled out disciplinary action, stating that the earnings were regularly reported in public asset filings.
Radio Slobodna Evropa Reports on Snežana Paunović and Peć Pharmacy Institution
The status of Snežana Paunović, who serves as the minister of public administration and local self-government, drew public scrutiny following investigative reporting. Radio Slobodna Evropa (RSE) published that Paunović, before she stepped into her current function and while she was a member of parliament for the Socialist Party of Serbia, received a salary as the acting director of the Peć Pharmacy Institution on Kosovo.
Asset Declarations and the Dissolution Timeline
Government of Serbia Shuts Down Pharmacy Institution in Goraždevac
Public records examined across multiple reports establish a timeline stretching from 2014 through 2025. According to available data from the website of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, Paunović was the acting director of that institution from July 1, 2014, until she assumed the function of minister on April 15, 2025.
However, that Pharmacy Institution, with its seat in nearby Goraždevac, was shut down on October 7, 2021, by a decision of the Government of Serbia. Documents analyzed by the portal show that the request to have it erased from the register of health institutions was submitted by Paunović herself. This is also visible on the website of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption according to data available to the public. On Thursday, July 30, the editorial staff received a response from them.
Anti-Corruption Agency Ruling on Disclosures
Agency for Prevention of Corruption Responds to Danas Regarding Property and Income
The Agency for Prevention of Corruption stated in its response to Danas regarding the question of whether it would deal with the case of Snežana Paunović: "Checking the Register of Property and Income of Public Officials kept by the Agency, it was determined that Minister Paunović submitted Reports on Property and Income to the Agency, in accordance with the legal provisions regulating the matter of reporting property and income. All data on the property and income of the named person, which she reported in her Reports, as well as data on public functions, are publicly available in the manner as they were reported in the Reports, and in accordance with the provision of Article 73 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption."
The agency further noted that Snežana Paunović submitted data on the public function of acting director of the Peć Pharmacy Institution in reports submitted on April 30, 2018, May 11, 2023, March 1, 2024, April 17, 2024, and May 15, 2025, and that the stated data can be found on the internet presentation of the Agency. "Taking into account the allegations of your question as well as the competencies of the Agency prescribed by the laws for whose implementation it is competent, we inform you that there is no basis for the Agency to act in connection with the topic of your question," the response stated.
Data from the agency’s website shows that in the period from 2014 to 2025, she received a salary for that position. The website also makes publicly visible her other income reported to the agency as an official—parliamentary allowance, airport management board membership, and others—by the years stated in the response to Danas. The essence is that she regularly reported the salary from the Peć Pharmacy Institution to the Agency, and therefore they have no basis to initiate proceedings against her for non-reporting of property, while it is not within their jurisdiction to investigate whether she should have received a salary in that Pharmacy or not. From the Agency’s response, it is concluded that it was important to them that she reported the incomes, meaning that she did not hide those incomes.
Ministerial Silence and Prior Denials
Minister Paunović Responds to Danas Editorial Staff
Snežana Paunović, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government
Minister Paunović did not want to comment on these allegations. She responded to the call of the Danas editorial staff with a single sentence: "with sincere respect, do not hold it against me, but I really have no comment, write whatever you want."
As Danas published last weekend, in a conversation for the paper at that time, Paunović resolutely denied that she had been receiving a salary for years as the director of a nonexistent institution. She stated that it was "an untruth that someone is pushing for the sake of lynching an individual," that it is impossible for someone to "receive two salaries according to the law and the system," and that the entire story and information is "as accurate as the one that North Korea won the football world cup."
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