OBCT: Montenegro - an unprecedented miracle, the directors are suing themselves

In Montenegro, the practice of directors of state-owned companies, after being dismissed or leaving that position, sues the parent company, seeking compensation because they were allegedly financially damaged during the period when they managed the companies in question. Lawsuits are filed due to allegedly reduced wages, as well as non-use of annual vacations. Claimed damages range from tens of thousands to several hundreds of thousands of euros, he reports Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) - electronic media and center for studies investigating social and political changes in Southeast Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus.

Perhaps the most characteristic example, as stated in the text, is the case of Verica Maraš, the longtime director of the company "13. July – Plantaže", which produces the famous Montenegrin wines. At the beginning of the year, Maraš filed a lawsuit against that company because she believes that her salary was illegally reduced for the period from June 1, 2012 to October 23, 2020. Possible compensation could amount to around 300.000 euros.

Maraš states in the lawsuit that her salary as executive director of "Plantaž" was illegally reduced by the decision of the company's Board of Directors. As explained in the text, it is actually about the implementation of the Government's conclusion that, due to the economic crisis at the time, wages in state-owned companies will decrease. Verica Maraš signed the decision to reduce wages for all employees of "Plantaže", including herself.

Before the reduction in 2012, Maraš had a basic salary of 7.372 euros, and previously she earned 9.560 euros per month.

"According to public data, in the period from 2008 to 2020, during the time she served as executive director, Maraš earned a total of 1.235.379 euros. Of this sum, her salary amounted to 800.000 euros, past work 74.000 euros, paid vacations about 50.000 euros, while she was awarded 300.000 euros on the basis of a non-refundable housing loan," it added.

Verica Maraš was arrested in August 2022 by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, together with almost the entire management of "Plantaž", the text reminds. She was suspected and later accused of complicity in the criminal act of abuse of position. That procedure has not yet been completed, as well as the one for compensation due to the decision she herself signed and implemented.

"Verica Maraš was a prominent member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which ruled Montenegro for three decades, until 2020. Maraš resigned after the previous opposition took power," the text states.

"Much more modest", as he writes, was the former director of the Tourist Organization of Danilovgrad, Ivan Dragojević. He initiated proceedings at the Agency for the Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes, seeking more than 15.000 euros for the payment of salary increases and compensation for unused annual vacations, during the time when, from 2015 to 2023, he was at the head of that organization.

The former director of the Employment Agency, Vukica Jelić, collected 7.298,79 euros last year, because she was denied part of her salary since 2008. "And here it could be said that there is nothing strange and that such things happen. It is interesting, however, that during the period when her salary was unjustifiably reduced, the director of the Institute was her husband Zoran Jelić", he points out.

Jelić was the head of the Employment Agency from 2008 to 2012, then he was replaced in that position by his wife Vukica, who remained there until 2016.

Even more interesting, as stated, is the case of Nusret Kalač, the former director of the Forestry Administration, who requested compensation from that state institution based on unused vacations for a period of five years.

The basic court in Rozaje accepted Kalac's request and ordered that he be paid a total of 9.069 euros based on unpaid vacations that he did not take in the period from 2016 to 2020, when he was the head of the Forestry Administration.

Kalač's successor as director of the Forestry Administration, Srđan Pejović, previously said that the former director did not give himself annual leave.

Former Supreme State Prosecutor Ivica Stanković also received compensation for not using annual leave. In 2018, the Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro made a decision to pay Stanković a little more than 8.000 euros as compensation for the fact that he allegedly did not take annual leave in 2015 and 2016.

Prosecutors Dražen Burić and Đurđina Nina Ivanović also sued the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office for unused vacations for six years, on the basis of which they received 22.659,41 euros and 18.388,32 euros, respectively.

They claimed, as stated in the verdict of the Podgorica Basic Court, that they did not use their vacations from September 2008 to the end of 2014 because of the tourist season, seminars, increased number of cases, meetings with the European Commission. On this basis, Burić was awarded 22.659,41 euros, and Đurđina Ivanovic 18.388,32 euros.

Two examples from Pljevlje testify to how much work state officials have that, as the text says, they don't even have time for annual vacations.

The former president of the local administration, Rajko Kovačević, a member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), sued the Municipality of Pljevlja because during 2023, while he was the first person of the city, he did not take annual leave.

Dragan Jovović, the former director of the Pljevlja municipal company "Local Roads", also filed a lawsuit with the Basic Court in that city, demanding payment of salary increases and damages for unused annual vacations during the time he was managing that company.

Jovović, who remained working in "Local Roads" after his dismissal, is demanding that he be paid 10.000 euros. He was the CEO of the road company from 2016 until June last year, when he was relieved of his duties.

The former director of "Montekargo" Muradif Grbović filed a lawsuit against the state-owned company for freight rail transport, seeking compensation for allegedly unused annual vacations for the five years he was director.

In the lawsuit, which was submitted to the Basic Court in Podgorica, it is stated that from the beginning of the employment relationship in that company in 2017, when he became the director, until his dismissal in February 2021, he did not go on vacation, so he is requesting compensation for that right for 2017, 2018 , 2019, 2020 and 2021.

"These are just some of the examples of lawsuits that have reached the public. If Montenegrin citizens were not damaged for a huge amount of money, maybe all of this would seem cute, just like the recorded scenes from the anthology film 'The Unseen Miracle', by the most famous Montenegrin director Živko Nikolić. Unfortunately, most of these lawsuits are only a confirmation of the arrogance of individuals, but also proof that Montenegro's road to the rule of law will be long and painful," the text concludes.

This material was created as part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI) project, which is co-financed by the European Commission. The contents are the sole responsibility of OBC Transeuropa and in no way reflect the views of the European Union, it is noted.