The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption could enter its second year without the control of the Council, and it has been without a director for almost four months because Jelena Perović arrested in mid-April, on suspicion of abusing her position.
Although the Commission for conducting the election of Council members of the Agency forwarded the list of candidates for Council members to the Anti-corruption Committee last week, the session of that working body of the Assembly has not yet been scheduled.
President of the Anti-corruption Committee Jevto Erakovic (DPS) yesterday did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" whether that body will sit before the August break in the work of the Assembly, as well as whether the possible session will be determined according to the list of candidates for membership in the Council of the Agency.
Vice President of the Committee Momcilo Leković (Democrats) told "Vijesti" that the session would have to be held as soon as possible, as a matter of urgency.
Leković emphasized that the "current situation in the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, as well as the upcoming local elections that await us in September" require this from the MPs.
"We must no longer lose a day, let alone a whole month, in making such important decisions from our jurisdiction," said Leković.
He reminded that the Commission for the implementation of the election of the members of the Council of the Agency completed its work within the legal deadline and submitted the list of candidates to the Board last week. "I am of the opinion that the session of the Committee should be held as soon as possible, according to an urgent procedure, so that the responsible Anti-corruption Committee can complete its part of the work before the annual vacations, i.e. express its opinion on the submitted list", said Leković.
On the list of the Parliamentary Commission there were five candidates with four out of five possible votes - Mladen Tomović, Slavica Mirković, Dragana Šuković, Pavle Ćupić i Aleksandra Vukašinović.
In addition to Eraković and Leković, the Commission consisted of representatives of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils - Miodrag Ilicković i Miroslav Turković, including Bojana Jokić in front of the civil sector.
If the Anti-corruption Committee agrees with the list of proposed candidates, it forwards the proposal to the deputies who vote on it during the Assembly session.
"If the competent committee does not propose a list of candidates to the Assembly, the procedure for electing members of the Council will be repeated," the law provides.
The Agency has been without a Council since August 1 last year, when the mandate of the then convocation expired.
We must no longer lose a day, let alone a whole month, in making such important decisions within our competence", said the vice-president of the Anti-corruption Committee, Momčilo Leković.
The first competition for members of the Council was announced in April and nine candidates applied, but the then Commission estimated that only three met the requirements. The Parliamentary Committee, on the other hand, was provided with a list on which there was Tomović, who was voted for by all five members of the Commission, and Šuković, who received four votes.
In mid-May, the committee decided not to propose the two to the Assembly, but to announce new competitions - for the Council and the Commission.
In the meantime, by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the director of the Agency, Jelena Perović, was arrested. Prosecutors suspect her of abuse of official position and damage to the state budget in the amount of more than 100.000 euros.
The SDT's investigation followed after the Ministry of Finance submitted to them the report of the Budget Inspection, in which, among other things, it is written that the director of the Agency last year, in violation of the regulations, distributed tens of thousands of euros of variables to herself and part of the employees.
The budget inspection also established that, for the period from January to June of last year, Perović paid at least 10.000 euros more to the members of the former convocation of the Council on account of their salaries compared to what, according to the law, they were required to do...
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