Several close relatives of the former director, current assistant director Milovan Strunjaš, work in the Railway Infrastructure Company (ŽICG), and some of them have had their housing issue resolved, "Vijesti" has learned.
The company claims that there is no question of nepotism. According to "Vijesti" information, ŽICG employs Radomir Strunjaš and his daughter Ivana Strunjaš, close relatives of the assistant director. Until recently, the daughter-in-law of Milovan Strunjaš, Marta Strunjaš, also worked at ŽICG, whose contract was allegedly not extended because she did not graduate from the Faculty of Civil Engineering.
The cousin of Milovan Strunjaš, Pavla Popović, allegedly works in the same company. According to the decision of the Board of Directors from 2008, he received 39.000 euros for solving the housing issue, and the allocation of these housing loans in ŽICG is also being examined by the prosecutor's office.
"At that time, ŽICG was headed by his uncle Milovan Strunjaš. He got the money after a colleague who is the head of the IT department was deleted from the list", claims the source of "Vijesti" from ŽICG. The company says that it is not nepotism because Radomir Strunjaš was employed by the Railways of Montenegro in July 1977, and Milovan Strunjaš at the end of 1987. "Well, we leave it up to you to draw a conclusion," they replied from that company.
They explain that Ivana Strunjaš was hired as an intern at the end of 2014, and after completing the internship, "due to the needs of the work process, she was hired through a public advertisement for a certain period of time to replace an employee who was on sick leave for a long period of time."
"She was appointed because she met all the conditions required by the public advertisement," claim ŽICG. They did not specify the current work status of Ivana Strunjaš in ŽICG.
"Pavle Popović started working for the Railways of Montenegro at the beginning of 1993, more precisely 24 years and 6 months ago. "He received the decision to resolve the housing issue as a staff of importance for the business from the Board of Directors of the Railways of Montenegro from 2008, and the funds were paid based on the Decision of the Board of Directors from January 2017," replied ŽICG.
Milovan Strunjaš rejected the possibility of nepotism. He pointed out that his uncle started working at the Railway long before him: "Maybe he hired me, but I didn't hire him". He still denied that Popović is his cousin. "Vijesti" previously announced that several close relatives of the director of the Traffic Management and Regulation Sector, Predrag Vujović, work at ŽICG, which is why the Ministry of Transport requested documentation from ŽICG. Immediately before the arrival of the new chairman of the board of directors, Safet Kalač, at the end of January, one of Vujović's relatives was given a contract for an indefinite period at ŽICG, and the contract of another was extended.
Kalač announced that he will investigate whether there is nepotism in ŽICG.
Popović: I have two faculties, I don't have preferential treatment
Popović told "Vijesta" that he received the apartment as an important employee, and that he was on the list back in 2002 or 2003, but that his housing issue was not resolved then. He did not specify whether former CEO Milovan Strunjaš is his relative. "If one of my relatives wanted to help me and if I had some benefits from anyone in the company, I would not have the lowest salary with almost three decades of experience in Željeznica. I work as an independent consultant for cable systems, and I have two faculties and they are serious, and not the ones that are traded like on the market," said Popović.
He pointed out that at the time he was granted money to solve the housing issue, he had no real estate: "I am not privileged in any sense. If I didn't deserve to solve the housing issue after so many years, no one did." He added that the plan was to build a building for the Railway workers, but that did not happen, which is why the money was distributed.
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