The Management Board of the Employment Service submitted a criminal complaint to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, in which they suspect that the actions of the former director of the Service Goran Folić and a lawyer Željko Stijović or abuse of official position because, as they believe, unnecessary legal expenses of over 200 thousand euros were made to that institution and the state budget.
The local public revenue administration of Podgorica sent the Institute 118 decisions for the payment of real estate taxes for 2021, however, as they state in the Institute, these were not their real estates, but they only had fiduciaries on them, and the municipal administration system recognized them as owners and sent them a tax bill by mistake. solutions. They also state that this was not the first time this happened and that the mistake could have been corrected by sending a letter and documentation to the municipal administration at zero euro costs, but that Folić then hired a lawyer who filed over a hundred individual lawsuits against the Capital City, and then as many for compensation expenses.
Folić and Stijović told "Viješta" that they reject all the accusations, that they worked according to the law, and that the increase in court and legal expenses is the fault of the officials of the municipal administration who refused to cooperate, as well as that the administration should pay all the costs of the proceedings and not Institution.
The Administration of Local Public Revenue states that they asked the Institute for documentation that would prove that they are not liable to pay taxes, but that instead they received individual lawsuits for all decisions. They also state that legal fees will not fall on them because all appeals were rejected as untimely.
The error could have been corrected for zero euros
The criminal complaint was filed on January 13. President of the Management Board of the Institute Dejan Vojvodic he told "Vijesta" that it would be unacceptable and unprofessional to turn a blind eye to such actions, as well as that Folić authorized the lawyer to make an unnecessary expense to the budget of 235.950 euros, even though the lawyer has a monthly fee of 1.500 euros from the Institute.
He stated that the Institute acquired fiduciary rights on these properties as collateral for self-employment loans that it gave to their owners, as well as that the municipal administration made a mistake by sending tax rulings to them and not to the real owners.
"Such failures of the Administration of Local Public Revenues happened years ago, and all of them were solved with one submission, an official discussion by two state institutions and at a cost of zero euros because the mistake would have been noted. Unlike his predecessors, Folić sent employees to the hearing without a power of attorney, so they were sent back from the hearing with the explanation that they must submit a power of attorney certified and signed by the director. After that, on January 12, 2022, Folić issues a power of attorney to a lawyer to take over all legal affairs in order to represent the Institute in proceedings before the Administration of Local Public Revenues. I believe that this behavior of Folić was unprofessional and irresponsible towards the institution, ignoring the state interest and reputation of the Institute. "Folić did not try to stop the bad intentions of the lawyer he hired and who was solely driven by personal interests," Vojvodić said.
Vojvodić: An attempt to screw up the budget
He said that the contract with lawyer Stijović was not extended on November 30, 2022, but that on December 7 he is contacting the Institute and insists on completing the procedures regarding the determination of real estate taxes until he insists on all the other items mentioned in the letter.
"This leads to the suspicion that the authorized person authorized by Folić was guided solely by personal interest, ignoring the state interest and the reputation of the Institute. On January 24, 2023, the lawyer authorized by Folić to take over these negligent legal actions, submits a bill of costs to the Office for Double Claims in the amount of 235.950 euros. If the Institute had not withdrawn these lawsuits, the amounts would have doubled at each hearing, possibly reaching millions. A very deliberate and transparent intention of the authorized person represented by the Institute. Seeing the intention, the new Board of Directors reacted in a timely manner and prevented further unconscionable actions that were enabled and allowed by the former director. I ask the question whether our directorships are used for budget-busting and personal profiteering, arranging jobs for godfathers, friends, etc. or to improve Montenegrin society and Montenegrin institutions. As president of the Supervisory Board, I had a professional obligation to submit a report to the Special State Prosecutor's Office on January 13, and the competent services will decide whether there are elements for the criminal offense of abuse of official position," Vojvodić said.
Error or arrogance of the official
Lawyer Stijović told "Vijesta" that he is neither related nor godfather to Folic, and that he met him immediately before the start of cooperation with the Institute. He stated that he was hired primarily because of employee lawsuit disputes, that he had a contract for six months, like the previous lawyer, and that it was extended by an annex for even more.
"In Art. 5 of the contract states that the lawyer reserves the right to the costs of court proceedings in the event of a positive outcome of the dispute. Although I believe that the cooperation was successful, we did not extend it after the contract expired on December 1, 2022 and the appointment of a new director of the Institute. Whether the reason for this is the fact that some members of the Management Board lost their disputes against the Institute when I represented it, I leave it to the public to judge," said Stijović.
He states that by submitting this criminal report, the criminal offense of false reporting was committed.
"Consciously and deliberately concealing the facts to make everything look like some kind of conspiracy. Namely, the assistant director of the Institute for the Sector for Active Employment Policy Measures and Entrepreneurship Development contacted me, as an authorized lawyer, for help in the case of a large number of decisions made by the Administration of Local Public Revenue, which is trying to charge the Institute for something that is illegal, and The institute does not have the capacity to manage such a large number of cases in addition to its regular work. Although the Institute sent a letter to the Administration stating that it is not the Institute's obligation, the Administration decides to initiate proceedings. At the hearing, the Institute was even ordered to submit proof of ownership for each immovable property separately. Upon the invitation of the Institute, I personally go to the Administration, looking for an insight into the evidence on the submission of the decision, which I do not receive. Only after about 10 days, the Administration shows delivery slips for the decisions by which the Institute's obligation is determined. As a representative of the Institute, I had the obligation to get involved in those proceedings. Therefore, it was not a mistake, but the arrogance of the officials of the Administration, and they maliciously stated that everything could have been solved with one letter because such a letter was sent, but the officials of the Administration went further and demanded that someone else correct their mistake, and therefore directly hid the costs of the procedure," Stijović said.
Stijović: If they had allowed me the expenses, the Municipality would have paid them
He said that the municipal administration only made a decision after a series of requests from him, which he considers to be illegal, but they did not complain because it solved his client's problem. He requested that the Administration pass a supplementary decision, which would refer to the costs of the procedure.
"The Administration did not act again even after several emergencies (in one of the emergencies I even personally called out certain employees of the Administration for procrastinating and deliberately creating costs for the procedure), so we filed a complaint for silence. The administration did not even submit our complaints to the chief administrator, as a second-level authority. Bearing in mind that even the second-instance authority did not respond within the legal deadline, we were forced to file a lawsuit due to the Management's silence. It is intriguing that the application regarding the submission of the invoice is submitted before the submission of the invoice itself. Since the new management of the Institute did not want to allow me to finish the disputes in question because they only concern the costs of the dispute, I was forced to submit an invoice related to those costs. By doing so, the management caused damage to the Institute. And on this occasion, I publicly call on the management to allow me to finish the disputes and to pay the costs to the person who caused them," said Stijović.
He states that he invoiced the prices in accordance with the valid Lawyer's tariff. He also said that he did not charge anything in connection with this dispute, and that he does not know the amount of tax that the municipal administration tried to collect from the Institute.
Folić: I reject all accusations
Folić said that the cooperation of local and state institutions is not at an enviable level, and that this problem arose for that reason.
"As I was informed, from the employees of the Institute and the 'Stijović' law office, the problem arose because of a mistake by the Administration of Local Public Revenues. The Institute, as in previous years, sent a letter to the Administration where we informed them about the mistakes that had occurred and everything could have passed without lawsuits because the institutional cooperation was at a high level, but due to the silence of the administration and the incompetence of certain administrative workers from the Administration of Local Public of revenue and the Cadastre Administration, has led to the initiation of this procedure against me. I categorically reject all the accusations against me, because I know that I did everything in accordance with the laws of the state of Montenegro, the Statute and the Regulations on the work of the Institute", said Folić, stating that the error was certainly not the fault of the Institute nor him as the director at the time.
He said that this law office was hired on a monthly contract, as was the practice in the previous period.
"As far as relatives, godparents and friendly relations with the employees of the 'Stijović' law office are concerned, I will tell you only one thing, that I neither knew nor met any of them in my life until the day of the signing of the representation contract", said Folić.
Administration: The Institute did not submit documentation, data from the Cadastre
The Administration of Local Public Revenues told "Vijesta" that they determined disputed decisions on real estate tax on the basis of data obtained from the Administration for Cadastre and State Property, because the Institute was listed as the owner in them.
"The Institute refuses to accept the decisions in question, and returns them to this Administration with a letter stating that these immovable properties are not in the State of the Institute, but are the same fiduciary owners of a large number of apartments, business premises and other immovable properties. After that letter, this Administration sent an invitation to the Institute to participate in the procedure (November 2021), in order to establish the true factual situation. However, even after the deadline for submitting appropriate documentation for the proper determination of tax liability (agreements on the fiduciary transfer of property rights, or some other legal document), the Institute did not submit it. Only after all of the above, submissions were sent to the Administration from the lawyers, for each solution individually", it was announced to "Vijesta" from this Administration.
They state that they acted in accordance with the Law, and that even after more than a year from the invitation to participate in the procedure, the Institute did not submit the required documentation in order to determine with certainty the taxpayer of the real estate in question.
"Regarding the issue of whether this Administration will reimburse the Institute for legal and court costs related to the dispute, I inform you that the Administration has no obligation or grounds for reimbursement of costs because the submissions (appeals) to the decisions in question were rejected as untimely", it was stated from this Administration.
Folić announced criminal charges against members of the Supervisory Board
Folić says that from the first day of taking office as director of the Institute, in May 2021, he encountered great resistance and obstruction from the majority of employees.
"Every problem that would arise in the current work was due to the irresponsible performance of the work of some employees and constant sick leave (out of 314 employees, 6 employees were constantly on sick leave for more than 66 months). My appearance in the media always caused negative reactions from the former directors of the Institute and part of the employees who belong to political organizations that were in power for 30 years, and every statement was true and correct. In August 2022, the new parliamentary majority at the state level brought changes to the Institute's Board of Directors, which appointed a new Board of Directors, which consists of members from the parties DPS, URA and the Bosniak Party. From the very appointment of the new Supervisory Board, they had a clear goal and intention, which was to remove me from the position of director because I did not belong to their political parties. That Board of Directors executed my dismissal on October 12, 10, when I was on an official trip. Three representatives of the Management Board are from the ranks of employees, which is not in accordance with the Law, because there can be 2022 employees and 2 from the ranks of the relevant Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. I would like to mention that 1 members of the Supervisory Board (president and 2 member) continuously sued the institute and the law office 'Stijović' managed to reject their lawsuits", said Folić, who is a member of the Democrats.
He believes that he was illegally dismissed, and that he will file criminal charges against the members of the Board of Directors.
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