Before being contracted to supervise the construction of the railway to Kelebija, the French company Egis had been sanctioned by several international institutions for corruption and fraud. Despite this, Serbian authorities hired the company for multiple major national projects — including the Expo 2027 site, the Belgrade Metro, and the Belgrade–Niš high-speed railway.
Supervision contracts play a crucial role in ensuring that large public infrastructure projects comply with design standards, laws, and safety requirements. In January 2022, Serbia’s Ministry of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure selected a consortium led by Hungary’s Utiber and France’s Egis to oversee works on the Novi Sad–Kelebija railway section. The deal was worth €37.4 million, later increased by over €3 million through two annexes signed in July 2022 and April 2024.
Egis has been repeatedly sanctioned worldwide. The World Bank penalized several of its subsidiaries for corrupt and fraudulent practices in India, Bangladesh, and East Timor, while Egis Avia in France paid a €2.6 million fine over bribery during an airport modernization in Algeria. In 2024, the Inter-American Development Bank banned Egis for three years due to misconduct in Panama, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) imposed a 33-month conditional suspension for fraudulent practices on projects in Egypt and Uzbekistan.
Despite this record, Egis continues to win major contracts in Serbia. The company is involved in:
- The Belgrade–Niš railway modernization project (designing for speeds up to 200 km/h);
- The Belgrade Metro (studies, project management, and design);
- A nuclear energy feasibility study commissioned by the Ministry of Mining and Energy, in partnership with France’s EDF;
- Preparation of tender documents for the new ports of Prahovo and Bogojevo, where Egis was the sole bidder;
- Consultancy work for Serbia’s air traffic control agency (SMATSA) worth nearly €600,000.
While Egis faces restrictions abroad, its operations in Serbia are thriving — revenues have increased eightfold in five years, from 130 million to 1.1 billion dinars, raising concerns about transparency and oversight in the country’s largest infrastructure projects.
