The Agency for Prevention of Corruption, if it adheres to the law, will have its hands full because dozens of those who received apartments or housing loans from the Government under favorable conditions did not comply with the Law on Prevention of Corruption. Among them are special prosecutors, directors, assistant ministers...
On the order of Prime Minister Duško Marković, the Commission for Housing Policy disclosed on Saturday the names of 95 persons (one name was duplicated on the government list, where it says that there are 96 of them), who in 2017, 2018 and 2019 received apartments or housing loans conditions that mean that the state covers the largest part of the amount - up to 80 percent of the value of the award.
Neither the individual repayment terms, nor the criteria by which the institutions proposed deserving employees to the Government Commission, nor those who were helped by the state years before this Government, were published. Among the winners, there are those who have been helped several times, with their good incomes, as well as those who have several apartments, houses...
For example, the ambassador of Montenegro in Spain, Aleksandar Eraković, who was the main political advisor to the prime minister, received a 40.000 euro loan at the end of last year to improve housing conditions.
According to the property record available in the ASK registry, Erakovic pays back the loan in installments of a little more than 40 euros, and his ambassador's salary is 4.142 euros, which is less than one percent of his income.
Unlike him, a citizen who, for example, bought a one-room apartment two years ago through the "1000+" project, i.e. under more favorable interest rates, will repay a loan of 18 euros with monthly installments of 45.000 euros for the next 293 years.
Extraordinary applications for 4 out of 13 apartments fail
Since the beginning of Marković's mandate at the end of 2016 until now, the government has allocated 13 apartments, and among those who have cramped there are also those who did not respect the Law on Prevention of Corruption.
Article 23 of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption stipulates that, in the event of an increase in property worth more than 5.000 euros, they are obliged to report the change in the form of a special property record within 30 days.
At the beginning of 2017, the prosecutors of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, Lidija Vukčević and Saša Čađenović, received apartments of 75 and 89 square meters from the state under favorable conditions.
At the end of August 75, the director of the Directorate for Human Resources in the Ministry of Defense, Mihailo Volkov, received an apartment under favorable conditions of 2017 square meters, and in February of this year, the president of the Constitutional Court, Dragoljub Drašković, received a 109 square meter apartment. According to the Agency's register, none of the four of them reported the acquired properties in special property registers, but only in the regular annual ones.
According to the law, whoever does not report the increase in property in a special property register faces a fine of 500 to 2.000 euros.
Favorable apartments were also given to the Ministers of Transport and Maritime Affairs Osman Nurković (from 90 m2), Education Minister Damir Šehović (from 89 m2) and Labor and Social Care Kemal Purišić (92 m2), MP from DPS Sanja Pavićević (replacement for an apartment of 89 m2). , Secretary of the Secretariat for Development Projects Dejan Medojević (74 m2), State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zoran Janković (75 m2), Director of the Special Hospital "Brezovik" Gordana Reljić (78 m2), Prosecutor of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office Miloš Šoškić (75 m2) and assistant director of the Police Administration Enis Baković (56+4 m2). All of them fulfilled the legal obligation and reported the increase in property in a special card.
According to the card, Čađenović will eventually buy the 89-square-meter apartment for 18.784 euros, and he will repay the loan in installments of 78 euros. His salary is almost 2.500 euros per month.
Medojević's apartment of 74 m2 will cost 22.641 euros, which he pays in installments of 94 euros. His basic monthly income was 1.077 euros last year.
35 euros each for a married couple
In the same period, several current and former members of Duško Marković's cabinet were taken care of. According to these decisions, they received a loan of 135.000 euros.
One of them is the head of the Prime Minister's Cabinet, Dragoljub Bulatović. Bulatović was not the only one who received a home loan under favorable conditions in his family, but eight months later his wife, secretary at the Ministry of Sports, Tatjana Bulatović, was also declared deserving.
Bulatović received 20.000 euros in April 2017, and his wife received 35.000 euros in January 2018.
The loan is being paid back in installments of 35,35 euros each. His last year's salary was almost 1.250, and hers was 1.030 euros.
In the last regular annual property record, Bulatović did not report his wife's credit, and his wife did not report his credit.
Article 23 of the Law stipulates that accurate and complete data must be submitted in the property register.
A fine of 500 to 2.000 euros is threatened for violations of the Law.
At the beginning of last year, Merima Baković, the adviser to the prime minister for legal issues, the sister of the winner of a favorable apartment from the police and the daughter of the recent ombudsman Šućko Baković, also received a loan.
At the beginning of 2018, Baković received a loan of EUR 40.000.
According to the decision of the Government, the former advisor for economic affairs, Nina Vujošević, received 2017 euros in May 35.000, but in her property record it is mentioned that she received 10.000 less - 25.000 euros.
Not all loans are in cartons
Many public officials who received loans under favorable conditions did not comply with the Law on Prevention of Corruption because they did not report it at all in their property records.
According to Article 24 of the Law, in the card, among other things, they must report debts and claims.
Upon inspection of the records on the Agency's website, the loan of 40.000 euros was not reported by the assistants to the Minister of Public Administration Danijela Nedeljković Vukčević and the Minister for Human and Minority Rights Žene Filipović, the assistant to the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Ljiljana Simović, the consul in New York Željko Stamatović, the head of the military intelligence department at the Ministry defense Miljan Perović, director of National Parks Elvir Klica (owner of two houses and three business premises), director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption Sreten Radonjić and secretary of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office Ljiljana Korać.
Even Jelena Burzan, assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, did not report the Government's loan assistance of 25.000 euros.
Neither General Secretary of the Government Nataša Pešić, who received 30.000, nor her deputy Nikola Dedeić, who received 20.000 euros, did that.
The State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Angelina Živković, did not report the 15.000 received from the Government, and neither did Supreme Court judge Branimir Femić, who received 5.000 euros less.
Last night "Vijesti" sent questions to the Agency regarding all these cases.
Many public officials reported in special records that they received favorable loans from the Government to improve living conditions, but almost a quarter did not.
The law stipulates that those who have increased their property by more than 5.000 euros must submit a special property certificate.
Given the conflicting interpretations within the Agency itself as to whether the increase also applies to loans or not, it is not clear whether the 24 public officials who did not report loans in special files violated the Law.
Help more than once
There are also those on the list who received help more than once.
The president of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, received a loan from the state of 40.000 euros at the end of last year, which she reported.
Last month, the Institute of Alternatives told "Vijesta" that, according to available data, the Government rewarded Medenica with an 80-square-meter apartment in one of the most expensive locations, and loans of 100.000, of which she paid back about 15.000 (it is not known how much she paid back from the loan of 20.000 euros).
The Secretary General of the Government, Nataša Pešić, received a 30.000 square meter apartment from the state before the recently received loan of 65 euros.
Transport Minister Nurković, for example, got an apartment from the state, and he is still paying off the housing loan he got from the state-owned "Monteput" five years ago. The installment for that loan is 70 euros.
Miljan Perović, for example, received a loan of 40.000 euros, and earlier he is repaying a government housing loan of 30.000 euros in installments of 55 euros. Institutions propose deserving employees for housing assistance, and the Government's Commission for Housing Issues, current since the end of December 2016, decides on what is requested.
The President of the Commission is the Minister of Defense Predrag Bošković, and its members are the Ministers of Public Administration Suzana Pribilović, Ministers of Education Damir Šehović, Ministers of Transport and Maritime Affairs Osman Nurković and Economy Dragica Sekulić, Secretary General of the Assembly Aleksandar Jovićević and a representative from the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro. Apartments were given to two members - Šehović and Nurković, and a loan of 40.000 euros was given to Jovićević, who was not in the commission at the time.
In addition to Jovićević, the Assembly provided with favorable loans one assistant and one deputy general secretary of that institution.
Is there any independence when you are favored by those you are supposed to control?
Among the disputed cases is that of the president of the Administrative Court, Branka Lakočević, claims the executive director of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), Vanja Ćalović Marković.
At the end of last year, Lakočević received a 40.000-euro loan under favorable conditions, which she pays back in 40-euro installments.
"The Administrative Court acts exclusively in those cases in which state institutions and state bodies violate the rights of citizens. You cannot go to the Administrative Court against a business entity, but only against a state body. And then the same executive power, which is judged in those proceedings, gives the president of the court the money he gives her", she told "Vijesti".
When asked if he believes that the Government should have published the complete documentation on the allocated apartments and loans, Ćalović Marković points out that the published list "is not complete information".
"What is the key information in this story is how many of these loans the officials had to pay back. So far, we have had the opportunity to see that loans of 50.000 euros were granted, and that they had to return 10.000 to 15.000 euros", she said, reminding that the rest was honored.
He also says that data on previously published apartments and loans must also appear and that this information cannot be a secret, which, he points out, has been confirmed by several judgments.
Ćalović Marković said that the granting of loans to Radonjić is also disputed for several reasons - he is the head of an independent institution that should control the work of the Government, and he also has family relations with the prime minister.
Yesterday, Radonjić told "Vijesta" that he had no obligation to report the loan in the card because it was not realized, but he confirmed that in the meantime 40.000 euros had arrived in his account.
The question of when the Government will declassify the data on the allocation of apartments to officials and civil servants was raised by independent MP Neđeljko Rudović during the prime minister's hour, who yesterday, commenting on the list for TV Vijesti, said that "the presidents of the courts and the prosecutors cannot be expected to they do their job when they are the ones the state honors". Democratic Front MP Branka Bošnjak asked the Prime Minister to resign yesterday.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
