The draft law on the prevention of corruption provides that officials will not have to declare savings that they do not keep in the bank if it is lower than 10.000 euros.
The same applies to cars, boats or weapons (movable property to be registered) if they are not worth at least 10.000 euros.
According to the current Law, officials had to declare savings and movable property worth more than 5.000 euros.
The limit related to restrictions upon termination of public office has also been lowered. If this Draft is adopted, the official can enter into a contractual relationship with the institution or body where he worked after one year from leaving office.
"Vijesti" previously wrote that the Draft provides that the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption will no longer have obligations towards those who report suspicions of endangering the public interest and the existence of corruption (whistleblower), but that person will be able to seek protection exclusively in court.
This is the second draft of anti-corruption regulations within a year, but these documents are almost completely opposite.
The current Draft Law on the Prevention of Corruption is on public debate for the next 20 days.
What a missed opportunity
Collegium of the former President of the Assembly Danijela Đurović at the beginning of last year, he formed a working group with the aim of improving anti-corruption rules for officials.
The working group was composed of MPs and the civil sector, and representatives of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption were also invited, but they refused to participate and expressed an opinion according to which the method of forming that working body "leaves room for various types of abuses and thus creates a favorable environment for the development of corruption risks".
In the Parliamentary Working Group at that time, as MPs, they were the current Vice President of the Government for the Political System, Justice and Anti-Corruption Momo Koprivica, State Secretary in the Ministry of Education Dragan Bojović, Vanja Ćalović Marković in front of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) and Ana Đurnić in front of the Alternative Institute (IA). According to the decision, two representatives of the opposition were supposed to participate in the work of the body, but their names remained unknown to the public.
"It is about the joint effort of the representatives of the civil sector and us MPs to improve the legal framework in this area and, as you have well noticed, to try to overcome the shortcomings observed so far, which could have been an obstacle to effective control. Of course, this is only about the Draft, the working version of the amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, which as such is absolutely open to further refinement and improvement", Bojović, coordinator of the Working Group, told "Vijesti" at the time.
In April, the working group submitted a draft of amendments to the law. After the announcement of the parliamentary elections, the working bodies of the Assembly did not consider this material, so the deputies never expressed their opinion on the major changes that the draft brought in the plenary session.
Lifestyle, children's property, cancellation of severance pay
Last year's Draft contained what experts and the lay public have been warning about for years as a shortcoming of the regulations in force.
The document provided for the definition of the lifestyle of public officials, the obligation of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption to check whether public officials live in accordance with their earnings.
That regulation gave the Agency a free hand to check whether the officials possibly concealed property in the country or abroad, but not only them but also their family members.
The draft expands the circle of public officials to include notaries, public bailiffs and bankruptcy trustees. He gave the agency the authority to access bank data - without asking for consent.
The draft obliged the officials to declare the property of the children - regardless of whether they live with them or separately.
"Also, officials would be obliged to report on the assets and income of their children when the children leave the joint household (and not only, as before, while they are members of the joint household), because we have witnessed various 'independence' of the sons of the highest state officials who became 'successful' businessmen and millionaires overnight," Bojović told "Vijesta" in April last year.
At that time, he said that it was proposed to abolish the possibility to pre-contract severance pay for public officials and civil servants, which caused an imposing financial damage to the budget of all citizens.
"For example, severance payments of 60 or more euros have been agreed, i.e. in the value of an apartment or real estate in Podgorica, which an ordinary citizen can only acquire through long-term loans, with high installments, if he is even able to get a loan," he said. is.
Parallel Draft saw the light of day
Ten days after this Draft was submitted to the competent Anti-corruption Committee, the Ministry of Justice headed by Marko Kovač , forms its Working Group for amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption.
This can be seen from the invitation to delegate a member on behalf of non-governmental organizations, which was published on the website of the Ministry of Justice on May 4 last year.
As representatives of the civil sector did not respond to the invitation, a twelve-member Working Group was formed, which is also the author of the last Draft Law. The new document does not contain any of the solutions previously agreed upon by the parliamentary Working Group. On the contrary, it denies one level of protection to whistleblowers, lowers the time limit in the limitation of functions, raises the amount that the official should report to the commission.
"In the twelve-member working group whose task is to draft the Law on Amendments and Amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, there are four members from the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro, then three members from the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK), and one member each representing the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (VDT), the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), the Supreme Court, the High Court, as well as a representative member of the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister for the political system, judiciary and anti-corruption. After the initial formation of the Working Group, with the formation of the 44th Government, there were changes in the composition, in terms of achieving greater inclusivity and involving the judiciary and prosecutor's offices of all levels, which ensured a higher quality of the Working Group", the department told "Vijesti" recently Andrej Milović.
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