The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption tolerates the fact that DPS councilors in the Kotor Municipal Assembly, Neđeljko Moškov and Vjera Rašković Perojević, are in incompatible positions, that is, in a conflict of interest.
The two of them recently voted for the dismissal of the President of the Kotor Municipal Assembly, Dragica Perović, and a few months earlier for the dismissal of the mayor, Vladimir Jokić.
Moškov is a councilor and director of the JU Resource Center for Hearing and Speech "Dr Peruta Ivanović", and Rašković Perojević is the director of the state kindergarten "Radost".
Thus, according to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, as well as earlier decisions of the Agency, two councilors are violating the regulation.
The agency headed by Sreten Radonjić recently determined in the cases of councilors from Beran and Pljevlja, Darko Bubanja (Zdravo Berane) and Ilhan Tursumović (DPS), that the position of director is incompatible with councilor...
When asked by "Vijesti" what about the conflict of interest of Moškova and Rašković Perojević, councilors of DPS in Kotor and directors of two state institutions, ASK remains silent.
The lawyer of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) Veselin Radulović believes that this is another example in a series of examples that show that the ASK is an instrument in the hands of the ruling party and that it does not have the minimum capacity to implement laws within its jurisdiction. "Of course, ASK had time and had to initiate proceedings in this case as well, but I don't think it surprises anyone why it wasn't done. "Unfortunately, when you have such institutions, you can have the best laws, but visible results in the field of fighting corruption will always be absent", said Radulović for "Vijesti".
Councilor Rašković Perojević has also been the director of the state kindergarten "Radost" for many years, and Councilor Moškov is the director of JU Resource Center for Hearing and Speech "Dr Peruta Ivanović", according to their regular annual property records.
The Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates that a councilor cannot "work in local administration or other administrative bodies", which includes the position of director of a public institution.
Article 13 of that regulation specified that they had 30 days to resign from one of the two chairs, and those who did not do so could be fined between 500 and 2.000 euros. According to the record, the director of the kindergarten has been in that position since May 2011, and since June 2016, she has also been a councilor in the city assembly, which would mean that she has been in a conflict of interest for three years.
Rašković Perojević did not directly answer the question of the "Vijesti" journalist whether, in the meantime, she sought or possibly received the opinion of the ASK on whether she is in a conflict of interest.
"I submit my regular annual report on income and assets to KAS within the legal deadline, in which I state all relevant facts. If KAS determines the existence of a conflict of interest, I will behave in accordance with positive regulations".
Neither did her party colleague Moškov, who has been the director of the Resource Center since the end of November 2016 and a councilor since mid-March last year.
"I regularly submit my reports to the Agency for Conflict of Interest, to which I regularly state all the relevant facts, and I am sure that these reports are not pro forma, but that they are regularly and thoroughly checked." After the journalist clarified that he was not interested in his property records, but rather in whether he independently sought or possibly received an opinion from the ASK on whether he was in a conflict of interest, Moškov no longer responded to messages and calls.
The agency did not answer the questions of "Vijesta" regarding these two cases, and their names are not in the register of decisions.
In Berane, the parties that are the opposition at the state level are in power, and this was also the case with Kotor until yesterday, when the new parliamentary majority in the hotel dismissed the president of the SO Kotor Dragica Perović. For the Government of Montenegro, it was not disputed, but yesterday it welcomed the holding of the session.
Councilors Moškov and Rašković Perojević also participated in the councilors' vote.
European Commission: The Agency's results are limited
In last month's report on Montenegro, the European Commission, in the part concerning the rule of law, pointed out that challenges concerning the independence, credibility and setting of priorities in the work of the Agency must be convincingly answered.
It is added that the results of the Agency remain extremely limited, with no cases concerning the misuse of funds for parties and election campaigns and illegal lobbying and only a few initiated cases of unexplained enrichment.
Radulović adds that the Agency has been characterized by the practice of unequal treatment since its establishment and the beginning of its work.
"With numerous illegal decisions and complete tolerance of violations of the law by the highest officials, and all this exclusively and only in the narrow political interest of the ruling party".
Bonus video:
