106,822,454.72 euros have cost Montenegrin citizens in the last 5 years, legally binding and enforceable court decisions against state authorities. This is shown by the audits of the final accounts of the budget of Montenegro conducted by the State Audit Institution.
For the most part, the grounds for lawsuits against the state were violations of labor rights. In Democratic Montenegro, they highlight the following information.
"The SAI determined that around 46 percent refers to the accrued interest due to untimely payment and the costs of court proceedings," says Vladimir Martinović from Democratic Montenegro.
On this basis, most of the citizens' money was poured from the coffers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then the Ministry of Defense, the Police Directorate, and also ZIKS. The expenditures of the MUP for 2016 based on the verdicts exceeded 13 million euros, but, as they explained, over eight and a half million related to the compensation for Limenka.
"Expenditures based on court verdicts for 2017 totaled 6.201.675,47 euros, of which the amount of 5.243.707,64 euros refers to natural persons," according to the Ministry of Interior's announcement.
Lawyer Tijana Živković represented some of the officials who sued the MUP.
"The largest number of labor disputes refers to unpaid wages, compensation of wages, in the name of increased wages for national and religious holidays for overtime work, night work".
Those who sued the state were publicly pointed out by Prime Minister Duško Marković, whose government assessed that the employees of the administrative bodies found a scheme with lawyers to damage the state budget. The dust arose when at the beginning of the year the list of officials who filed lawsuits was even published. Then, at the end of March, Marković announced that in the future the costs will be paid by ministries or administrative bodies.
"Then we will know who is causing the damage and who will be held accountable," said Marković at the time.
Did anyone answer because the employees sued the state due to the violation of labor rights, from the Government, MUP, Ministry of Defense and ZIKS did not answer us. Those in this story claim that accountability is persistently absent.
"I am not aware that anyone answered," says Živković.
"There is no determination of the material responsibility of elders and managers in state bodies. We follow the determination of responsibility in our administration and unfortunately we do not have much material, neither when it comes to material responsibility nor when it comes to disciplinary responsibility," claims Milena Milošević from the Alternative Institute.
Milošević believes that it is paradoxical that the names of those who sued the state authorities are published, while, he emphasizes, in the Report of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests for 2017, the names of the authorities that were sued and the amount demanded from them are obscured. They got the hidden data based on a request for free access to information. According to them, as many as 8.348 court cases were initiated last year.
"And they say that the situation has not changed at all, that the amount of funds that are paid from the budget due to lost disputes is around 20 million euros annually".
Lawyers also recognize the problem in the fact that the state rarely voluntarily pays the amount determined by the court, which entails interest.
"That way, costs are additionally created and piled up. I know that there are cases in which the amount of calculated late interest is higher than the main claim," says Živković.
Živković points out that in the whole story, the ball of responsibility should not be shifted to the lawyers, who in accordance with the law charge fees.
"For now, the only responsibility lies with civil servants and the Protector of Property and Legal Interests".
The Government told us that the Ministry of Finance formed a working team in October, which included representatives of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests, as well as the Department of Finance, Justice and Internal Affairs. They are tasked with preparing an analysis of proposed measures to overcome labor disputes.
"The team is working and is expected to prepare an analysis with a proposal for measures," the Government said
In the meantime, citizens are paying for the mistakes of irresponsible elders in public administration. Generous. About 15 to 20 million a year there.
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