The director of MANS, Vanja Ćalović-Marković, said yesterday that she sees the initiation of the dismissal procedure as "a kind of recognition for the fight against corruption in the captive state of Montenegro, which does not tolerate even a breath of freedom or criticism, for fear that it could shake the regime."
On Monday, the Parliamentary Anti-corruption Committee will discuss the opinion of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption that the director of MANS is in a conflict of interest, because she allegedly subordinated her private interest to the official, that is, her work in the MANS-Council of ASK.
As KAS assistant director Savo Milašinović wrote in the Decision, she, as director of an NGO, submitted requests for checking conflicts of interest, and then decided on them in the Council.
The Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates that the Council announces a competition for the election of a director, controls his work, adopts the budget, checks the director's property record. ASK director Sreten Radonjić and his associates deal with specific initiatives.
The same law stipulates that a member of the Council can be dismissed before the end of the term for which he was elected for several reasons, among other things, if he "violates the provisions of this law", but in that case "the reasons for dismissal shall be determined by the Council and the competent committee shall be informed thereof, and the procedure shall be initiated at the proposal of at least three members of the Council".
Several NGOs have warned that the ASK bypassed both articles of the Law and turned the procedure upside down.
Alternative Institute, CRNVO, CGO, CEMI, Akcija zaljudska prava and Media Center called on the members of the Committee for the Prevention of Corruption to respect the Constitution, laws and the decision of the Constitutional Court and wait for a final court decision before starting any proceedings against Vanja Ćalović Marković.
They sent the letter to the president and board members Daliborka Pejović, Željko Aprcović, Obrad Stanišić, Nikola Rakočević, Dragutin Papović, Branka Tanasijević and Filip Vuković. They are all from DPS.
Earlier, MANS also asked the deputies to wait for the opinion of the Administrative Court, to which Ćalović filed a complaint.
NGOs remind that on January 30, 2018, the Constitutional Court found that the Rules on the work of KAS in the part of preventing conflicts of interest are contrary to the Constitution and that the assistant director does not have the authority to make such decisions at all.
"Since the beginning of the work of the Agency, Sreten Radonjić has talked more about my dismissal than about anything else, which is within the competence of the work of that institution, and there was hardly a session of the Council where he did not raise the issue. However, only two and a half years later, after the dismissal of the members of the RTCG Council, Radonjić finally started the procedure for my dismissal, after, contrary to the law, he deprived me of the opportunity to defend myself against what he found me guilty of," Ćalović told "VIjesti ".
She believes that Radonjić got the green light for that decision from the top of the DPS, who "decided to deal with all opponents at any cost."
IA public policy researcher Ana Đurnić says that "the Agency's decision is particularly problematic because it sends a strong message that no one who is ready to critically examine the work of this institution, as well as other institutions, is welcome in the Agency".
"It is problematic that such a message is sent at a time when the procedure for the election of the fifth member of the Council is in progress, to serve as a reminder and warning of how the Agency will treat any member of the Council who "dare" to work transparently and openly criticize controls the director and his work to the extent prescribed by law," she says.
The EU Delegation in Podgorica was also informed about the position of ASK.
Institutions twist laws and discredit those who threaten the regime
"The day after Đukanović announced the departure from the EU and the purge of the unfit through the abuse of laws and captured institutions, the Anti-Corruption Committee also scheduled a session. Đukanović clearly said that he will apply the adopted regulations "because it is in our interest and, even if it is not liked by someone at domestic or relevant international addresses, because we will follow our path uncompromisingly as before". What Đukanović did not say, although he knows it very well, is that he will not apply these regulations equally to everyone, but will use them as a weapon in the fight against dissenters thanks to the institutions that he and his party captured. Those regulations do not apply to him and the members of his party, and the competent institutions interpret them so that despite the obvious violation of the law and the amassing of huge wealth - they are never guilty, unless Đukanović himself puts them on the kill list. On the other hand, these same institutions twist laws and plant falsehoods, trying to discredit those who threaten the regime," says Ćalović.
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