The report on the revision of the Draft Law on the final account of the last year's budget showed that some state bodies were spending citizens' money in an inappropriate manner, which is why Democratic Montenegro suspects that the party staff illegally exercised privileges at the expense of the budget.
The official of the Democrats, Nikola Rovčanin, said that the State Audit Institution (DRI) gave a conditional opinion in the part of the review of the regularity of the Bill on the final account of the budget for last year, and that the report established that all spending units did not perform business activities in accordance with by law.
"This represents a kind of scandal for Democratic Montenegro. Therefore, state bodies are not able to fully function in accordance with the law when it comes to the disposal of citizens' money", said Rovčanin at the press conference.
He added that the audit of current expenditures revealed irregularities related to unjustified payments for housing and separate living, inappropriate spending of funds and untimely submission of reports from official trips.
"This means that some state bodies squandered the citizens' money by spending the funds inappropriately and by paying unjustified expenses to some individuals. "We justifiably suspect that the meritorious party cadre exercised privileges at the expense of the state budget completely illegally," said Rovčanin.
He announced that the identified irregularities relate to the advance payment to sports entities before making a decision on the distribution of funds based on the competition, as well as inappropriate spending by the ministries of agriculture and science, which violated the laws on wages in the public sector and personal income tax.
"All this speaks of the weakness of the state apparatus, which is captured and organized by party interests, and the long-term inability to act on the recommendations of competent authorities confirms the position of the Democrats, that without a change of government there is no reform and introduction of the work of state authorities within the framework of the law," Rovčanin said. .
He claims that those who introduced party employment, enabled corruption and uncontrolled spending of citizens' money, can never implement the reform to the end.
"Each initiated phase in reforming this area was burdened with the need to maintain such a state, to preserve party soldiers and legacy, and to show the public and the international community that something has been 'reformed'. Legal business cannot be expected from those who have been breaking the law and abusing state resources for decades," Rovčanin believes.
Democratic functionaries, Bojan Krvavac, stated that in the Bill on the final budget account for last year, it is easy to see that around 422 million euros were allocated for the gross wages and contributions of employees in state bodies, from which it follows that for these needs in the previous year an allocated fifth of the state budget.
"A total of about 188 people are employed in Montenegro, of which we have 60 in the public sector. In the real sector, about 120 are employed, mainly in the field of tourism, hospitality and construction. We also have 118 pensioners and about 22,5 beneficiaries of social assistance. So, if we add it all up, it turns out that about 200 people are directly burdened by the budget," said Krvavac.
He added that it can be concluded that an unsustainable system has been created in Montenegro, which is slowly devouring itself, in which 120 thousand people employed in the real sector support the full budget for financing the wages and income of the other 200 thousand people.
"In addition to all that, we know that employers in a large number of cases report minimum wages to employees in the real sector, based on which taxes and contributions are minimal," said Krvavac.
He said that there are more employees in Budva than in Pljevlje, Berane, Petnjica, Mojkovac, Kolašin, Plav, Gusinje, Plužine, Šavnik and Žabljak combined.
"The question is whether this is balanced regional development in a country that is a candidate for EU membership. In Mojkovac, we have 1,1 thousand employees, and three times as many pensioners, unemployed and socially vulnerable. For Cetinje, the famous joke of its inhabitants that they should put a sign 'Cetinje ne radi' at the entrance to the city proved to be true, because compared to three thousand employees, there are about six thousand pensioners, unemployed and socially vulnerable," said Krvavac.
He considers it an incredible fact that there are around 5,8 thousand employees in Pljevlja, and twice as many others. As he stated, the fact that in the Municipality of Rožaje there is an almost equal number of employees and recipients of social assistance is also interesting.
"For the youngest municipality in Montenegro, Petnjica, there are no data, but they are displayed together with the data of Beran. They probably tried to cover up the fact that in Petnjica, apart from a few employees in the local self-government, there are almost no people in employment," said Krvavac.
He announced that Montenegro has become a country that has become "deep in debt" in order to pay current bills, while credit funds are not invested in the creation of new values and investments.
"All this speaks in favor of the fact that the current government is pushing us into bankruptcy and debt slavery. If the current regime is not replaced and radical economic measures are not introduced for the recovery of the economy, we believe that Montenegro has a very difficult, dramatic and uncertain economic future," concluded Krvavac.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
