Paović claims that Perović did not break the law

Director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) Jelena Perović, suspected of abusing her official position and damaging the state budget for more than 100.000 euros, was not obliged to report to ASK the sale of an apartment in 2022 and the change of property in excess of 5.000 euros, her assistant decided Nina Paović.

In the decision, which the Agency published yesterday on its website and dated today, the conclusion is identical to what the institution replied to "Vijesta" back in February - it is not about the increase of the Perović property, but about its transition from immovable to movable.

"And what evidence the Agency gave full faith to, it will appreciate as clear and true," says the decision signed by Assistant Director Nina Paović.

"Vijesti" announced in February that Perović hid from the public the sale of the apartment and the income of 70.000 euros, and official data on the Agency's website show that she did not submit a special report 30 days after she sold the inherited property.

According to the documentation available to "Vijesti", which was obtained with the help of the MANS platform for supporting investigative journalists, she sold the apartment in September 2022, and before concluding the contract on the sale of the property, she was paid 22.000 euros.

That money was not reported in a separate report, while the rest of 48.000 was used to close the loan she had in one of the commercial banks operating in Montenegro.

In August 2021, Perović submitted an extraordinary report, in which she reported that she had inherited a 43-square-meter apartment. She sold the same property a year later.

The director of the Agency was arrested on April 17, and two days later she was placed under house arrest.

In the anonymized judgment, which is the Agency's practice in cases where the procedure shows that the official did not violate the Law on Prevention of Corruption, Paović states that Perović was not obliged to submit an extraordinary report.

"After the evaluation of the presented evidence, namely: part of the database of public officials of the Agency, reports on income and assets from March 31.03.2022, 31.03.2023. and 623. year, part of the database of the Administration for Cadastre and State Property and the purchase and sale contract UZZ no. 2022/08.09.2022 of 70.000/5.000/XNUMX. , the Agency determined that after the sale of real estate - an apartment, for the amount of EUR XNUMX, the public official did not have the obligation to submit a report on income and assets, which refers to an increase in assets over EUR XNUMX, because in this case it is not an increase in assets , but about changing the form of property from immovable to movable," the decision reads.

22 thousand euros were paid to Perović before the signing of the sales contract, while the rest of 48.000 was used to close the loan in one of the commercial banks.

Paović specifies that the Agency initiated the proceedings against Perović ex officio.

"By reviewing the report on income and assets from 31.03.2022. and 31.03.2023. year, it was determined that she was appointed on 31.03.2022. reported the subject apartment, and in the report dated March 31.03.2023, XNUMX. that she reduced the principal amount and closed the loan from the sale of the apartment", the decision states.

This is not the first such decision of the Agency.

The agency first published such a position in November 2019 in the case of the former president of the Supreme Court Vesne Medenica. The agency then claimed that Medenica did not break the law when it did not report that it had sold land in Kolašin for around 140.000 euros.

After evaluating the presented evidence..., the Agency determined that the public official, after the sale of real estate - an apartment, for the amount of 70.000 euros, did not have the obligation to submit a report on income and assets, which refers to the increase in assets," claims Paović in the decision.

A few months ago, Perović also signed a decision according to which even a former high-ranking state official did not Ivan Brajović he had no obligation to report that he sold some 4.500 square meters of land near Danilovgrad for 150.000 euros, and the explanation was the same - it was about "changing the form of property, from immovable to movable".

The Agency previously convinced the public that even the former director of the Agency did not break the law Happy Radonjic, who did not report a loan of 40.000 euros, received from the Government under favorable conditions. Radonjić received the loan in January 2018, and reported it for the first time in 2020, explaining that there was no reason to report the funds until he "realized" them.