Assembly today on removing the immunity of a group of DPS and SD MPs

Today, the Parliament of Montenegro will vote on removing the immunity of a group of representatives of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and Social Democrats (SD), suspected of abuse of official position by illegal allocation of apartments and loans, during the mandate of the former government.

On December 22, the administrative board unanimously proposed the authorization for criminal prosecution, but it will not be on the agenda until four months later. The opposition is boycotting the work of the parliament, but the votes of the Postavgustov majority (41) are enough for a decision that would allow the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) to investigate suspicions of abuse of official position.

After forming a case based on the Government's criminal complaint in December last year, the SDT asked the Assembly to lift the immunity of the DPS MPs. Predrag Bošković, Suzana Pribilović i Dragica Sekulić, including Ivan Brajović i Damir Šehović from SD.

In addition to them, the investigation also included former ministers Budimir Apprentice (DPS), Suad Numanović (DPS), Sanja Vlahovic (DPS) and Osman Nurkovic (BS), former chief of staff of the president and former consul in Sremski Karlovci Drazen Milickovic, former Secretary General of the Assembly Aleksandar Jovićević (SD), and former assistant to the general secretary Jelena Radonjic. Immunity does not protect them from criminal prosecution.

The SDT established that there is an appropriate level of suspicion that the former members of the Government Commission from 2016 to 2020 committed a prolonged criminal offense of abuse of official position, in that Bošković as president and the others as members made decisions on solving the housing needs of officials contrary to regulations and thus obtained a material benefit for others that exceeds 30.000 euros.

The list of officials to whom the Commission distributed loans in addition to the Decision on the method and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials included the former Supreme State Prosecutor Ivica Stankovic, former President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica, former president of the Commercial Court Blazo Jovanić, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Bosniak Party Ervin Ibrahimovic, former MPs, ministers, prosecutors, judges...

The Government's criminal complaint states that the former president and members of the Commission damaged the state for 1.823.000 euros by distributing housing loans to more than 2016 prosecutors, judges, deputies, ministers and other civil servants from 2020 to the end of 100. and officials. It is stated that the Commission made decisions on the granting of loans contrary to the provision of the Article of the Decision, which stipulates that an official can be granted a loan "for the improvement of housing conditions up to 15.000 euros".

Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic in October of last year, he filed criminal charges because of the apartments and housing loans granted to public officials in an earlier period, and last week he supplemented it. In addition to the criminal complaint, the Government submits to the SDT several disputed decisions on the allocation of apartments from 2017 to 2020. B. Ma.