The BIRN investigative portal said on Monday that a high-ranking official of the Serbian ruling party has been engaged to defend former senior police ministry official Dijana Hrkalovic.

BIRN said that Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) official, lawyer Vladimir Djukanovic was hired by Hrkalovic to defend her in court on charges of pressuring police investigators and Internal Affairs Ministry (MUP) staff and leaking information to criminal groups.

The portal said that Hrkalovic’s team of lawyers quit when she told them that she had engaged Djukanovic.

Hrkalovic was a close associate of then Internal Affairs MInister and close associate of SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic Nebojsa Stefanovic.