MANS: Most MPs in the current government are more interested in hiding their assets and income than in establishing a system that is equal for all.

Most of the current government's MPs have shown that it has become more important to them to allow the possibility of continuing with the old practice of hiding assets and income, than to truly establish a system that applies equally to everyone - both former and current officials.

This was announced by Dejan Milovac, director of the Research Center of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), after the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration yesterday rejected amendments to the Bill on Free Access to Information that would allow the public to access data on the income and assets of related persons of public officials - including children and other family members, regardless of whether they are formally part of a common household.

The essence of these amendments, as explained by MANS, was to improve the transparency of the system for recording the assets of public officials, but also to discourage the practice of "transferring" assets to children and relatives as soon as they leave the household, thus eliminating the obligation to report and control.

These amendments were submitted by Democratic MPs Momčilo Leković, Duško Stijepović and Anđela Vojinović.

"This decision by the Committee means that the public will continue to be deprived of key information about the assets and income of family members of today's officials, but also about assets that have been hidden for years precisely through "connected persons". This is particularly problematic because, as MANS has repeatedly documented, there are a significant number of cases where children of officials "leave the household" immediately upon reaching adulthood, and then become owners of valuable real estate and other assets, without a clear and verifiable origin.

That this is a real, not a theoretical problem, is best demonstrated by concrete examples from practice that MANS has been publishing for years. In the case of the family of former President Milo Đukanović, data on the income from rent earned by his son, Blažo Đukanović, ceased to be publicly visible precisely after he "left the household", although it was previously recorded that this income was tens and hundreds of thousands of euros per year, while in 2008, real estate (an apartment and a garage) was purchased for 132.000 euros," the statement states.

It is added that today Đukanović cites his family's unreported income as the origin of assets that significantly exceed his official income.

"However, the Pandora papers have further exposed how crucial "related persons" are to understanding the beneficial ownership and control of assets. The documentation processed by MANS showed that Milo and Blažo Đukanović concluded secret asset management agreements and established structures such as trusts (the "Victoria Trust" and "Capecastel Trust" are cited), along with a network of companies and intermediaries across multiple countries and offshore jurisdictions. It is precisely such schemes - where ownership and money flows are hidden behind complex arrangements and related entities - that make transparency about related persons even more important, because without it, the public is left without the ability to track where the assets end up and who actually manages them," MANS said.

They point out that the case of Miloš Medenica, son of the former president of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Vesna Medenica, is particularly illustrative, to whom MANS discovered a luxurious villa on the coast worth 700.000 euros, the construction of which Medenica did not explain with official income.

"In cases concerning the family of Vesna Medenica, MANS also pointed to the mechanism of 'gifts' and the increase in property within the family: in 2018, the minor granddaughter received a plot of land in the center of Kolašin as a gift, after which a luxury house was built on that land. The gift was provided by Rade Arsić, whose name is mentioned in the proceedings against Medenica for abuse of official position and exercising unlawful influence," MANS points out.

All these cases show the same thing, the statement added, that when the system of oversight and transparency is reduced to only what is formal in the household, there remains enormous scope for assets and income to be hidden from the public - legally, "on paper", but essentially corruptly.

"Therefore, the rejection of the amendment on the availability of data on related parties is a serious blow to the idea that the new Law on Free Access to Information will strengthen the fight against corruption. Without the ability for the public to see and verify assets held by children and other related persons, the state is actually protecting the most common mechanism for concealing illicit enrichment."

"We call on the parliamentary majority to show a minimum of responsibility towards the promises they made to citizens and a willingness to truly fight corruption - including within their own ranks - by reviewing this decision by the plenum and supporting solutions that narrow the space for hiding assets, instead of encouraging it," MANS concluded.