( dpa ) - Serbian police said Tuesday it has issued an arrest warrant for the Serbian Football Association president Zvezdan Terzic in connection with corruption charges.
Terzic allegedly embezzled more the equivalent of more than 1.5 million dollars from player transfers while he served as the chief executive of first-division side OFK Beograd, local media quoted from the statement.
In a crackdown on the football branch of powerful organized crime in Serbia, police has this year already arrested several people, including the owner of FK Vojvodina, Ratko Butorovic, and the football legend and former Red Star executive Dragan Dzajic.
Terzic has been on the run since leaving Belgrade for a UEFA congress in January.
Serbian football is widely regarded as thoroughly corrupted by organized crime which controls money-laundering schemes and the trade of players.
The owners of several clubs with roots in organized crime have been assassinated in Serbia over the past decade, but also the secretary general of the then Yugoslav football organization, Branko Bulatovic.
The killings were linked by media to turf wars, dirty money and player transfers.
Police said earlier it aimed to crack the powerful complex of organized crime and football, operating millions of dollars from money-laundering, racketeering, match-rigging and player transfers.