Favorable loans for senior ASK officials

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption fulfilled the order of the Council of the Agency and announced the names of ten employees who received housing loans under favorable conditions two years ago.

"And those were the then assistant director of the Agency Savo Milašinović and civil servants in the Agency Dušan Drakić, Marija Madžgalj, Dušan Polović, Dragana Šuković, Dijana Đukanović, Snežana Pešić, Dušica Rečević, Goran Durutović and Gordana Đurašković," the Agency's response states. News". Ten of them received a loan of seven thousand euros each.

Milašinović is currently acting director of the Agency and a candidate for the position left vacant by the departure of Sreten Radonjić.

It was announced earlier that all 10 loan winners are civil servants of the Agency of high management, expert management and expert staff. The funds in question were, the "Vijesta" Agency said in August, in four cases allocated for the purpose of solving the housing issues of employees who had not had the issue resolved at that time. The remaining six candidates owned or co-owned housing with their spouse, and funds were allocated to these candidates for adaptation or improvement of living conditions. Some of them have since left the Agency.

In the second half of January, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) requested access to the complete documentation on the basis of which housing loan payments were made to the Agency's employees, but the requested documents were declared a business secret.

In the explanation of the decision, which "Vijesti" had access to, it is stated that the requested information refers to credit funds paid at commercial banks to the accounts of natural persons who are the beneficiaries of those funds and that it is clear that "the requested information is a business secret."

After "Vijesti" was written, this question came up at the session of the Council of the Agency. The President of the Council, Momčilo Radulović, then said that he believes that the publication of the names and positions of the employees who were granted loans does not constitute a violation of any law, but that it is the Agency's obligation to communicate this information.

Milašinović replied that in the request in question, MANS asked for complete documentation, which also contained data on the accounts of persons to whom loans were granted. Council member Zlatko Vujović said that there are no legal impediments to publishing the ranking list of employees who were allocated funds, with the score list and the criteria on the basis of which the points were scored. He believes that this is information of public importance that must not be hidden, and that the Agency should serve as an example when it comes to data transparency. When it comes to the part of the request of the NGO MANS that refers to the documentation on the basis of which the payments were made, the outcome before the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data should be awaited. The AZLP Council is headed by the former director of the Agency Sreten Radonjić.

There is no AZLP opinion on this issue on the website.

Council member Goranka Vučinić then said that the members agreed that by refusing to publish the names and positions of the employees who were granted loans, great damage was caused to the Agency.

"These are elementary data that the public must have at their disposal, bearing in mind that this is the money of the citizens of Montenegro," she said, according to the minutes of the meeting.

She added that this is a sensitive issue, and the Agency must not come out with incomplete information, which would leave the possibility of doubting the transparency of the procedure.