Vice President of the Assembly and official of the Europe Now Movement (PES), Boris Pejović, returned the official car he used to the parliament at the end of November.
This was confirmed by the Assembly and Pejović to the "News".
He told the newspaper that he did it because, as he claims, he can perform all his official duties using a private car.
"This is not something that deviates from the practices that are characteristic of the countries of the European Union, and it is also very important that we have a rational approach to state resources", said Pejović, adding that he is not the first deputy of the strongest ruling party to do this, that is, as he stated, several PES officials refused to use the official vehicles that were available to them.
The parliament told "Vijesti" that Pejović paid off the vehicle on November 25, and that the club of PES deputies did not borrow the car for its own needs.
According to the parliamentary rulebook on the use of official vehicles, they can be permanently used by the vice president of the highest legislative chamber, a person designated by the head of the parliamentary club (for the needs of the club), the president of the working body of the parliament, the secretary general, his deputy and assistant, the head of the cabinet of the president of the Assembly, and the head of security the first man of the legislative chamber.
Before Pejović, the official car was returned to the parliament by the head of the PES club, Vasilije Čarapić, so Jelena Nedović is the only representative of that party who owns it, which was confirmed by "News" from the legislative chamber. She did not answer the newspaper's question about whether she would return the car.
In October, Čarapić and Nedović were the target of criticism from a section of the public for misusing the official car for private purposes, or suspicions about it.
Čarapić was transporting a mattress in a Renault Megane. When asked by "Vijesti" Television whether he used that car to transport beds, he said that he did not want to answer, adding that he would submit photos as proof that he used another vehicle for that purpose. However, a short time later, "Iks" wrote on the network that he "used the official car for official purposes", at the same time admitting that he also used it for private purposes - because during the day he used it to transport private things to the building where he lives.
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He also claimed that the drive for that purpose lasted "less than two minutes", and that for all the remaining things that he transported later that day - he hired and paid a company that deals with transportation.
"I treat entrusted state property responsibly, and I believe that in this situation it was not endangered, nor was it a case of abuse. This situation is possibly a reflection of my poor security culture, which is solely to my personal detriment, and not to the detriment of citizens. I am available to the parliamentary and competent authorities for any clarifications", he said at the time.
Soon after, he announced that "due to inappropriate use" he would return the car to the Assembly, saying that he apologized to the citizens.
A few days after that incident, the car used by Nedović was photographed in front of a Nikšić hotel on Trebjesa hill, and she claimed that she was at a seminar. However, "Vijesta" did not answer what the topic of that alleged event was, or what its agenda was. "Vijesti" announced that the hotel in Nikšić, in front of which the vehicle being driven by Nedović was photographed, does not have a conference room, and that seminars in that city are mostly organized in other facilities.
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Čarapić drove the vehicle as the president of the parliamentary club, and Nedović as the head of the parliamentary Administrative Committee.
Both cases happened on non-working days, that is, during the weekend.
The parliamentary rulebook states that official vehicles cannot be used for private purposes, and that, if this happens, the parliament is obliged to confiscate the car of the deputy and "take measures in accordance with the law". That document, however, does not state what measures the Assembly should take and in accordance with which law, and that question was not answered by "Vijesta" in October, the highest legislative chamber and its general secretary.
According to the rulebook, Nedović (as was the case with Čarapić and Pejović) has the right to permanent use of an official vehicle, which means that, unlike those who do not have this right, he is not obliged to park it at the end of the working day and hand over the keys to a person to the person in charge of the Parliament's fleet, that is - that he does not have to get the approval of the Secretary General to use the car for official duties during non-working days or outside working hours.
According to data from the Parliament's website from November, the Parliament's fleet has 37 vehicles, of which four are not in charge.
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