The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) is conducting proceedings against the president of the Council of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, Goran Macanović, due to suspicion of violating the provisions of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the agency informed "Vijesti" yesterday.
The report against Macanović was filed in November 2021 as a citizen by Denis Martinović, who is also the head of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities.
This Fund operates within the Employment Agency as an umbrella institution. The Council of the Fund issues opinions on the justification of accepting requests for subsidizing the wages of employed persons with disabilities and other rights. This year, based on those opinions, over 20 million euros were paid out, instead of the planned 14 million. The fund was bankrupt, so the difference had to be paid from the state budget.
The subject of the application is that Macanović was not registered as a public official, as well as the fact that, as the president of that Council, he participated in decision-making in connection with the allocation of subsidies for four organizations where he is the founder, authorized person or member of the management bodies, without excepting his opinion .
According to the report, this refers to two companies "Tiflomont" and "Oganj", the Organization of the Blind for Nikšić, Šavnik and Plužine and the Association of Disabled Youth. It is disputed that he submitted a request for a subsidy for equipping a workplace for himself as the executive director of the Association of the Blind and that he did not exclude his opinion when deciding on it as the president of the Council. The adjustment of the workplace cost 7.685 euros.
In January 2022, the ASK issued an opinion that Macanović is a public official, and for the rest of the application, it was stated then as now that the procedure is ongoing.
However, on the KAS website, in the search for public officials, there is still no Macanović. If he were a public official, he would have to report all income and assets, as well as all companies and organizations where he is the founder, authorized person and member of the governing bodies, so that it would be visible with which companies and organizations he is connected and whether he decides on their rights.
According to data for November of this year, the Fund, whose Council is chaired by Macanović, paid 15 euros to the Association of the Blind for subsidies for monthly wages and work assistants, and 1.040 euros to the companies "Oganj" and 938 euros to "Tiflomont". The association has 14 employees, and these companies have two employees each.
Macanović told "Vijesta" that he does not recognize the decision of the KAS that he is a public official and that he will not submit reports on income and assets, regardless of possible misdemeanor penalties.
"I will not do that, not because I want to hide income and assets, but because, as a lawyer, I believe that I am not a public official. I was proposed to the Council of the Fund by organizations of persons with disabilities, and the director of the Employment Office only notes that. It is wrong that the decision signed by the director stated that I was appointed," said Macanović.
He also said that the former director of the Institute, Vukica Jelić, submitted a request in 2017 to investigate whether he is a public official and that the ASK then ruled that he was not.
"I asked the new director of KAS, Jelena Perović, how it was possible that in 2017 I was not a public official, and now I am, and she answered that KAS had previously made many illegal decisions. I do not accept such argumentation and I will not submit an application as a public official", said Macanović.
Sanela Žiga, another member of this Council representing the organizations of persons with disabilities, submitted her income and property declaration to the KAS as a public official.
Macanović has been on the Board of the Fund since 2013, and since 2014 he has been its president. He was last elected to that position in 2020.
The application states that Macanović is an authorized person in the Organization of the Blind for Nikšić, Šavnik and Plužine, which is the beneficiary of funds from this Fund, as well as that the same organization is the founder of the company "Tiflomont", which also receives money from the Fund. Macanović owns a 50 percent stake in "Ognje" and is the founder of the Association of Disabled Youth, and this company and organization also receive money from the Fund.
He told "Vijesta" that he is no longer an authorized person in the Organization of the Blind for Nikšić, Šavnik and Plužine, as well as that he was never an authorized person or a member of the board of "Tiflomont", and that he is the co-owner of "Ognja" and the founder of the Association of Young People with Handicap.
Macanović said that he did not consider it necessary to exclude his opinion when deciding on the requests of these organizations or to inform the other members of the Council about it, because those requests were legal, as well as because the Council makes only an opinion, while the final word is given by the Institute.
"The council makes an opinion that is not binding. The institution does not have to accept it", said Macanović.
He also stated that in 15 years of operation, the Institute twice did not accept the opinion of the Fund Council. This Council issues several hundred opinions annually.
He also said that he did receive money for adjusting his workplace as a disabled person, but on the basis of the law.
"I am employed by the Association of the Blind as an executive director and according to the Statute I represent the Association. That request for adjusting my workplace as a person with a disability could only be sent to the Institute by the executive director. I did not estimate how much it costs, but an authorized company with which the Institute cooperates", said Macanović.
He said that those who reported him to ASK can discredit him, but that he is ready for that fight and will fight back.
"I am ready to work in the Council without compensation, which amounts to half of the average salary, and with the same enthusiasm for the benefit of people with disabilities," said Macanović.
He is against limiting the amount of the wage subsidy
The fund for professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities receives money from the contribution paid by all companies in Montenegro that do not employ persons with disabilities.
That annual income should amount to around nine million euros, but it is decreasing, while at the same time the number of people with disabilities is increasing significantly, as well as the amount of earnings they report for subsidies.
The law does not limit the amount of salary or the amount of the monthly salary subsidy, but that the maximum amount of the subsidy is up to 75 percent of the reported salary. So there are cases with reported earnings of over eight thousand euros. If the Fund does not have its own income to pay these subsidies, the difference is paid from the budget.
This year, the fund had expenses of around 21 million euros, of which around 13 million were reimbursed from the budget.
The Employment Office has announced that it will request changes to the Law, in order to limit the amount of the subsidy.
Macanović said that he is against that initiative, because it is part of a campaign that stigmatizes people with disabilities as worthless people who should not work.
"The fund has been collecting this contribution since 2009, and only a few years ago it happened that the annual payments were higher than the payments. However, this fund has so far collected more than 100 million more than it paid out for the needs of people with disabilities. According to the information I received, that money was used in previous years to reduce the PIO Fund deficit. That is why I am against limiting the amount of subsidies", said Macanović.
He said that the big problem is the inactivity of the Fund's services, because the processing of requests for wage subsidies is delayed for months, and there are cases that have been delayed for several years.
"All this creates additional costs. The total amount for this year is higher because there are payments according to requests from the previous year as well. Now, at the session, we decided on the requests that were submitted in May. Those people should work for years without income while our service, whose head is this Martinović who reported me, is late with decisions," said Macanović.
The number of disabled people in the north increased to be voters
When asked by "Vijesti" whether it is normal that in some municipalities in the north people with disabilities make up to 20 percent of the population, on the basis of which they exercise various rights from the budget, as well as whether these figures are disputed for him, Macanović said that they should pay attention to the period when these figures were increased.
He said that in Berane, Rožaje and Bijelo Polje, there was a significant increase in people who were recognized as having a certain percentage of disability, after the Constitutional Court canceled the decision on allowances for mothers with three or more children.
Macanović suspects that those figures were increased in the pre-election period of 2016, when some political parties promised their voters who lost benefits due to the decision of the Constitutional Court, that they would receive benefits as disabled persons in the amount of 40 percent of the minimum wage.
"When the elections ended, that compensation was abolished, but whoever received it then continues to receive it. Now it is 225 euros and they will receive it until they get a job or retire," said Macanović.
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