Strengthening the independence of judicial and investigative bodies is one of the priorities of the Government of Montenegro, said the Vice President of the Assembly Zdenka Popović.
As it was reported from the parliament, Popović said this in the Senate of the United States of America (USA) as part of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Forum.
Popović said that the 44th Government, as one of its priorities, defined strengthening the independence of judicial and investigative bodies, which, she stated, laid new foundations for reducing political influence on the work of institutions.
"It is a very significant fact that in this period there were no accusations of connection with criminal organizations or corruption among the officials, which is a really positive step forward," said Popović.
She stated that, during almost a year of work of the new government, 95 percent of all criminal offenses were solved, and that more than 600 members of organized criminal groups and persons associated with them were arrested and prosecuted.
"12 criminal offenses of human trafficking and 27 criminal offenses of illegal crossing of the state border and people smuggling were discovered," said Popović.
As she added, a major police operation to free 11 kidnapped migrants was successfully implemented.
"620 criminal acts in the field of economic crime were processed," said Popović, adding that the material damage included in the processed criminal reports for those criminal acts is estimated at around 530 million euros.
Popović clarified that this primarily refers to the damage caused to the budget of Montenegro by the smuggling of cigarettes from the Bar Port Free Zone.
"247 criminal offenses related to narcotic drugs were prosecuted, and in cooperation with international partners, 26 members of international criminal organizations were prosecuted who were linked to the smuggling of significant amounts of cocaine and marijuana on a transnational level," said Popović.
She pointed out that more than 120 criminal offenses in the field of corruption were prosecuted, with an emphasis on high level corruption.
"Approximately 100 internationally wanted fugitives have been located and deprived of their freedom," said Popović.
She emphasized that these may be small numbers for large countries, adding that they are huge for Montenegro.
"Montenegro is the future 28th member of the European Union," concluded Popović.
As announced by the Assembly, Popović also attended the official opening of the Forum, where she spoke with prominent parliamentarians from the USA and the world.
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