Milovac: MANS disputed by Vuković, contracts with convicted persons are not a problem

The Agency for Construction and Development of Podgorica, in its response to the research story about the affairs of the Capital City of Podgorica with the company "Toškovići", whose owner was legally convicted of creating a criminal organization and tax evasion, did not deny any of the facts that MANS presented, it was announced from that NGO.

Dejan Milovac from the MANS Research Center stated in his response that ininstead, the public was presented with "a series of justifications that further fuel doubts about the more than privileged status that the company "Toškovići" has in doing business with the capital.

"Article 112 of the Law on Public Procurement gave the Podgorica Construction and Development Agency the opportunity to additionally check the correctness of the documentation submitted by Ivica Tošković as part of his bid, including the certificate of criminal record, which was already in place at the time of awarding the street reconstruction contract on July 18. five months old. This is all the sooner because the information about the prosecution action "Vardar" and its participants was publicly available, including the information that Tošković was finally convicted in November last year. When, as a tender participant, you have a company whose owner is known to have been legally convicted, and he provides you with a Certificate of Cleanliness from last year, this represents circumstances that motivated the responsible municipal company to carry out additional checks of the documentation that the company "Toškovići" attached with her offer, said Milovac.

He reminded that the same situation existed in the case of the company's contract with the city enterprise "Vodovod i Kanalizacija", which will be terminated after the MANS investigation.

"Unfortunately, it shows the pattern of behavior of the Capital City when it comes to the system of public procurement and spending the money of the citizens of Podgorica. When it comes to the delay in the execution of works, the Agency cites the causes that, if the tender procedure had been well prepared, it had to count on and take take them into account when defining the legal deadline.. When it comes to Veliše Mugoše Street, the Agency knew that there was a Gorica hill and what the composition of the terrain was, it knew that there were residential buildings, that some people lived there, as well as what was written in the planning document for that location, which are just some of the reasons that are by no means an excuse for the months-long delay of the works. Finally, we accept the promise of the Capital City that, in the absence of arguments, it will inform the representatives of the international community about "what MANS is doing" as a confirmation of the correctness of our work and "regardless of the pressures of Mayor Ivan Vuković to which MANS has been exposed lately, we continue to investigate how the money of all citizens is spent and point out cases of corruption in Montenegro," Milovac concluded.