According to Nebojsa Stefanovic, Serbia's interior minister, among the arrested are former agricultural minister Slobodan Milosavljevic, two deputy ministers from the same office and several other officials from both public and private companies.

The police action was conducted on Friday night.

Stefanovic told reporters on Saturday morning that investigations have been ongoing since 2004 to the present and the operation would continue and nobody would be spared.

The biggest part of the job was done over the past year, Stefanovic said, adding that most of the frauds had been in connection with construction land.

They are suspected of corruption, money laundering, abuse of public office and other criminal acts. It is believed their wrongdoings costed the state more than 100 million euros.

Among the arrested is also Zorana Markovic, who was head of Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency from 2009 until 2012.

Markovic, suspected of corruption, is a lawyer by profession and during her long carrier in the area of rule of law she has also worked in Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the US embassy in Belgrade.

