The bank account of the pharmacy institution Apoteka Beograd has been blocked for nine days, according to Forbes Serbia. The National Bank of Serbia’s website shows the account has been frozen since June 25, with the blocked amount reaching 15,562,045.29 dinars as of yesterday. Today, the blocked sum has decreased by about two million dinars.
Forbes Serbia has reported multiple times on the ongoing issues faced by Apoteka Beograd. On June 27, employees held their final protest in a series outside the Belgrade city administration, demanding payment of four unpaid salaries.
In late April, the pharmacy restocked medicines that had been missing for months, suggesting some improvement. The City of Belgrade also provided funds to settle debts with suppliers.
However, employees have recently complained about delayed salaries, having only just received pay for February. Representatives of the Opstanak trade union told Forbes that the 1.3 billion dinars allocated by the City of Belgrade for debt restructuring covered only major supplier debts, excluding smaller suppliers and employee wages.
This means Apoteka Beograd must cover debts to smaller suppliers and salaries from its current operations, which appears challenging given the recent account blocking.
Suppliers are seeking payments through court rulings. Over the past three months, ten such judgments were issued—some from suppliers, others from individuals. For example, in early April, major supplier Keprom doo filed a claim worth 21.5 million dinars at the Commercial Court. Two weeks later, another claim of 21.9 million dinars was filed, related to Magna Farmacia.
Additionally, TT Medik, a distributor of ConvaTec medical products, initiated a smaller claim for 3.4 million dinars and won another court case in June for 6.2 million dinars.
These ongoing legal disputes highlight the financial struggles of Apoteka Beograd as it tries to manage outstanding debts and employee payments.
