Perović: Person close to GST Novović smuggled cigarettes

I learned that a person from the judicial system who is close to the Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović was smuggling cigarettes, and that despite the fact that the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) had information about the aforementioned actions, it did not prosecute him but rather protected him.

This was stated today at a hearing at the Podgorica High Court by the former director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Jelena Perović, during her defense, which lasted more than three hours.

She was allegedly told this information by a whistleblower with whom she had a meeting in Ljubljana, which was allegedly the reason for her trip to that city. However, the SDT alleges that she falsely presented the private trip she took her daughter on as an official one in order to claim the expenses as transportation costs abroad and that she personally signed a request to the State Treasury of the Ministry of Finance, thereby authorizing the payment of a total of 542,20 euros from the ASK account for the expenses of the alleged official trip abroad.

She said that the whistleblower is a Montenegrin citizen who no longer lives in Montenegro, and who pointed out corrupt practices in the SDT.

The meetings in Ljubljana, as she explained, had a higher degree of secrecy and caution, and she also spoke with international experts about the regulation of the election of directors of the Boards of Directors of public companies, which, she assessed, is poorly regulated because it gives political parties the opportunity to elect persons without any experience in a certain field, which the Agency has pointed out several times.

"I also received the route of the trip, as well as the contents of the cigarettes, and we also received information from the Sky communication - which I believe cannot be evidence in itself but rather a roadmap for serious criminal acts, that some government structures are connected to money laundering in the countries of the region. That is the content of the conversation with the aforementioned whistleblower," Perović said at today's hearing.

She said she did not make an official note about this because she wanted to wait for material evidence, which had not yet been provided to her, to make such accusations.

She also said that she knew that she was under secret surveillance (MTN) but that she never received a notification from the court, and that because of that she used the phones of close family members and friends. The SDT charges her that, by illegally abusing her official position and exceeding the limits of her official authority, she handed over several phones that were the property of ASK for use or ownership to her minor daughter and her father, minor daughter NL, with whom the defendant concluded service contracts, who was not employed by the Agency, VP, the mother of the defendant Paović and Momo Radulović, who used the mobile phone even after the end of her mandate.

"I did all this in order to cover the tracks of the security structures, which include the prosecutor's office, but not in terms of committing criminal acts, but to protect my contacts who gave me information in the fight against corruption," said Perović, adding that some of the phone conversations she had concerned the companies Post of Montenegro, Ski Resort, and Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System (CEDIS), which, according to her, belonged to the Democrats in terms of political depth.

She explained that she occasionally gave the phones to family members to use, but that she did not sign over ownership rights to them, because she did not have any either, as they were owned by the Agency.

She also said at today's hearing that there was an alleged agreement between the prosecutor of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office, Maja Janković, and the Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Defense, Fight against Crime and Internal Policy, Aleksa Bečić, about her arrest.

"It was announced at 10 on a television station, and I was arrested three hours later, which means that there was an agreement about my arrest," said Perović.

She denied guilt and the criminal acts she is accused of, and added that "it is not the state that has been damaged, but ASK, if there is any damage at all."

She did not want to answer questions from the prosecution, but only from the defense and the court.

The SDT also charges former ASK assistant director Nina Paović with two continuing criminal offenses - abuse of official position and the continuing criminal offense of forging an official document.

She thought she had the right to variables too.

STD accuses her of illegally issuing decisions on the payment of increased wages based on overtime work and decisions on the variable part of wages, to which Perović said today that all employees who gave their maximum at work received the variable part of wages.

"Which I thought I had the right to, because not a single document came out of the Agency without me and my assistants signing it under special authorization," said Perović, adding that the authority to dispose of the Agency's budget belongs exclusively to the director.

"Regarding the fact that I made a decision on the variable part of my salary for myself, I believe that only I could have done that based on the Agency's financial plan," she pointed out.

The former ASK director said that the allegations in the indictment that she arbitrarily recorded hours for herself and her assistants were incorrect.

"...because we did not register with our cards, and for that reason we are not entitled to overtime. From 2008, when I was elected as a judge of the Basic Court, until the end of my mandate at the ASK, I never registered with my cards when coming to and leaving work," she said.

Perović also said that she and her assistants submitted internal reports on overtime work, which, according to her, was not a legal obligation, and that they did so only so that Paović would have records.

"Every decision on overtime was made in accordance with the law for both Paović and former assistant director Boris Vukašinović based on those reports, and they and I did more than those decisions stipulated. Even if there was no decision, they have the right to be paid for what they do," Perović assessed at today's hearing.

Regarding the allegations in the indictment that she paid for accommodation and transportation for Nikola Lekić, who is not employed in the public sector, and with whom she, as director, signed a contract for services related to technical assistance in compiling reports on inspections carried out, technical assistance in preparing statistical reports, and assistance in sorting and arranging documentation, Perović said that for all the trips that took place, Lekić, as an engaged person, performed the work and received compensation accordingly.

"I do not dispute a single bill, invoice or the route we took, I believe everything is legal," said Perović.

Perović: You used political travel and phone calls to undermine my integrity

"The trips and phone calls were politically sensitive in order to undermine my integrity and that is the only reason why the indictments were made," she said.

She added that she could use the official vehicle 24 hours a day at home and abroad.

"I had a decision from the Agency that allowed me to do so. While abroad, I covered my own travel expenses, even though no regulation required me to do so, because when you give someone a vehicle to use for 24 hours, it is understood that the costs are borne by the vehicle owner, or rather the institution," said Perović.

She said that she worked and lived under great pressure and that certain structures exerted pressure on her, as did some of the Agency's employees, who she said were in cahoots with criminal structures.

"The Agency's window was shot at, our tires were slashed, the office with the files was broken into, various characters approached me. However, the greatest pressure I experienced came from the judiciary, which relativized all the social phenomena that have been happening for the last four years," she said at today's hearing.

Perović listed everything she did during her mandate, stating that she checked over 10.000 asset files, that she completed 400 cases - administrative proceedings annually, almost twice as many as the Administrative Court, that she initiated between 1200 and 200 misdemeanor proceedings, and that 90 percent of her mandate was spent in the election campaign.

"This is important to emphasize because of the number of service contracts concluded at the state level that had to be published on the ASK website, which was a way to influence the electoral processes, because at one point there were over 30.000 service contracts. By doing everything I have listed, ASK has gained the reputation and trust of citizens and international partners, so the number of whistleblowers has increased every year," said Perović.

The hearing will continue tomorrow, and Paović will present his defense.