The state-owned company "EPCG Solar Gradnja" announced that it will file criminal charges against a member of the Senate of the State Audit Institution (DRI) Milan Dabović and a recently retired senator Zoran Jelic, after the SAI gave a double negative opinion on their business last year
"Solar Gradnja" did not provide too many details on this topic for "Vijesti", only stating that they will base the reports on the evidence they have. The DRI told "Vijesti" that this announcement is contrary to Article 144 of the Constitution of Montenegro, which guarantees functional immunity to senators for decisions and opinions made in the performance of their duties, and announced that they will inform international bodies responsible for protecting the independence of supreme audit institutions about the case.
The report will be based on serious evidence.
According to Article 144 of the Constitution, the President and members of the Senate of the SAI enjoy functional immunity and cannot be held accountable for an opinion given or a decision made in the performance of their duties, unless it is a criminal offense.
"We have not yet filed criminal charges against DRI Senate member Milan Dabović and former DRI Senate member Zoran Jelić. Functional immunity does not apply to the commission of criminal offenses, in this case abuse of office. When we file a criminal charge, we will of course base it on the serious evidence we have," said the president of the Board of Directors of "Solar Gradnje" Marina Jocic.
Due to this audit, a control hearing was held at the parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget at the beginning of the week, where, in addition to Jočić and Dabović, the acting director of the state-owned company Sonja Žugić and the chairman of the Board of Directors of Elektroprivreda Milutin Đukanović were questioned, while Energy Minister Admir Šehović did not appear at the session.
The material that the state-owned company forwarded to the Board, which "Vijesti" has access to and which contains comments on the recommendations that the SAI made to be implemented, states, among other things, that "in accordance with the recommendations, we believe that giving a negative opinion on the financial statement and the statement of regularity cannot serve to honor the people who made the same findings."
"We believe that the negative opinion by the DRl was given without arguments and that in this way they are damaging the reputation of the company. We emphasize that in the past period there were no abuses, thefts or similar irregularities in "EPCG Solar Gradnja" and that the company operates positively with around 500 employees with an average salary of around 900 euros. In addition, we must emphasize that the company has an extremely developed market in all Montenegrin cities and several thousand satisfied users, and the implementation of projects that are of great importance for the energy sector is also planned. Given the above, we will file criminal charges against Mr. Jelić and Mr. Dabović," the documentation states.
They hope that everything will remain just an "announcement"
The Collegium for this audit was led by Jelić, who retired this summer, while Dabović was the other member of the Collegium. Negative opinions were given on both the financial operations and the regularity audit.
The SAI says that the announcement of filing criminal charges against SAI Senator Milan Dabović for expressing his opinion on the audit in question in his capacity as a member of the SAI Collegium is an expression of inappropriate and unacceptable ignorance, first of all, of the Constitution of Montenegro.
"Namely, Article 144, paragraph 5, precisely defines that members of the Senate "may not be held accountable for an opinion given or a decision made in the performance of their duties", and that they enjoy "functional immunity". This provision was included in the Constitution of Montenegro in 2013, at the request of the European Commission - Directorate for Budget, through the process of constitutional reforms carried out with the Venice Commission, through the adopted Amendment XIV. The purpose of establishing this type of (functional) immunity is to enable SAI senators to have freedom and full independence in adopting/expressing opinions in the relevant audits and to impartially decide on specific cases", the SAI stated.
This type of constitutional protection from “undue political influence” is the result, they explained, of the application of principle 2 of the ISSAI Mexican Declaration on the Independence of Supreme Audit Institutions, drafted by the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee, which requires that “the independence of the head and members of the SAI, including security of tenure and legal immunity in the performance of their duties, be constitutionally and legally ensured.”
"Therefore, we are convinced that this "announcement of filing criminal charges" will remain only at the level of an "announcement" because it is pointless and contrary to Article 144 of the Constitution of Montenegro. The SAI will inform INTOSAI IDI - (SIRAM) about this case as an international mechanism for achieving the independence of supreme audit institutions, which has already noted cases of violation of the SAI's independence once (2023) and prepared a report on it," the SAI said.
357 workers hired without a public competition
The documentation for the parliamentary committee session also states that the DRI determined in its findings that EPCG Solar gradnja transformed employment contracts from fixed to indefinite in 2024 for 357 employees, without publicly advertising job vacancies and without fulfilling legal requirements. The auditors believe that such action is contrary to Articles 24 and 38 of the Labor Law, which stipulate that the Employment Service is obliged to publicly advertise a job vacancy at the employer's request and define when the contract transformation can occur. Therefore, they recommended that the company fill all positions in the future exclusively through public advertising.
EPCG “Solar gradnja” rejects these allegations, claiming that they acted fully in accordance with the labor law. They explain that the transformation of the contract was done through annexes with employees who were already working in the company, and not through new employment, so there was no obligation to publish an advertisement. They refer to Article 47 of the Labor Law, which allows such a change with the consent of the employer and employee, as well as to the opinions of legal experts who confirm that the contract can be transformed even before the expiration of the maximum period of 36 months. The company says that the audit finding is based on an incorrect interpretation of the law and that all procedures were legal, while the DRI maintained the position that the company had to act in accordance with the rules on public advertising.
Regarding this employment, the SAI, as stated on its website, also referred to the Supreme Court ruling that excluded the possibility of transforming employment from a fixed-term to an indefinite term in situations where persons were not employed based on a public advertisement.
Controversial wage law
The DRI determined that EPCG Solar gradnja does not determine salary coefficients according to the rules that apply to the public sector and recommended that in the future they determine them in accordance with the Law on Salaries of Employees in the Public Sector, with the prior opinion of the Ministry and the consent of the Government. The company responds that this law does not apply to them because they are not majority state-owned nor do they exercise public powers, but are 100% owned by EPCG, which is why, they say, coefficients are legally regulated by employer acts and collective agreements, including increases due to professional licenses.
The DRI found that EPCG Solar gradnja hired workers through contracts for occasional and temporary jobs in jobs that are provided for in the systematization act, which is not permitted. The company acknowledged the finding and said that it would stop such a practice in the future and would not hire contractors for jobs that are provided for in the systematization act.
The audit also found irregularities related to official travel – travel orders were not issued in all cases, and upon returning from the trip, employees did not submit reports or expense accounts, nor was adequate control and approval of payments carried out. The SAI recommended that the Regulation on Reimbursement of Expenses of Public Sector Employees be fully complied with. Solar Gradnja stated that the finding was well-founded and that it would improve control and procedures to ensure compliance with the regulations.
It was also determined that the company does not have a regulation on the use of entertainment funds. The auditors recommended its adoption, and the company states that the procedure for the use of these funds has already been adopted in the meantime.
This audit was published on July 1, and in the documentation for the Board meeting, the state-owned company states that it has complied with most of the recommendations or is completing them.
Sošić: Announcement of application instead of solution to the problem
Public policy researcher at the NGO "Institut Alternativa" Marko Sošić told "Vijesti" that the announcement of criminal charges against the State Audit Office is only a logical continuation of the Board session, which, instead of presenting solutions to the observed irregularities, turned into a trial of state auditors.
"This is not the first time that the SAI has been threatened with criminal charges - and such attempts almost exclusively follow audits of public companies. Let us recall that a similar thing happened ten years ago in the case of Montenegro Airlines, then the Regional Water Supply Company, and now in the audits of CEDIS and Solar Gradnja," Sošić pointed out.
According to him, the inconsistent behavior of the Solar-gradnja management is particularly worrying.
"In July, the President of the Board of Directors thanked the SAI and said that their recommendations would contribute to improving business operations. Just two months later, she claims the opposite - that the negative opinion was given "without arguments", that "the company's reputation was damaged" and announces criminal charges against the auditor. At that time, she tried to place all the blame for the irregularities that she now denies on the previous management. However, in the official document Information on the reasons for the dismissal of the executive director of "Solar Gradnje", which the Board of Directors submitted to EPCG in October 2024 (and which we obtained through the SPI procedure), the failures of the then management do not include those that the SAI pointed out," said Sošić.
He added that there are no legal grounds for such announcements – the Constitution protects Senate members from such pressures – but the Government, as the owner of both EPCG and indirectly "Solar Gradnje", must be concerned about this behavior of the management of its companies.
"If the fact that "Solar-gradnja" received a double negative opinion, and that as many as 350 people were hired without an advertisement, without checking work experience and qualifications, was not enough reason to reconsider the responsibility of management, then at least this attitude towards the institutions of the system should be an alarm. In just four years, "Solar-gradnja" has grown into one of the largest public companies in the country, with almost 500 employees - more than, say, Morsko dobro, Monteput, CGES or National Parks," said Sošić.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance has already classified "Solar Construction" in the riskiest category of companies in terms of profitability, liquidity and solvency.
"When the SAI's findings on weaknesses in corporate and financial management are added to this assessment, it becomes clear that one of the youngest companies has already grown into a serious problem that requires solutions, instead of being a development opportunity - all with emphasized party management," concluded Sošić.
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