The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has been harassing its director for years Jelena Perović and her assistants Nina Paović i Boris Vukašinović, so the state will pay them more than 70.000 euros, because since the beginning of their mandate, they have not been charged salary supplements, in the amount of 30 percent of their earnings, resulting from the settlement that these officials signed with each other before the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution.
According to "Vijesti" information confirmed in the Basic Court in Podgorica, Perović will collect 33.619 euros on that basis, Vukašinović 17.171 euros, while Paović has already reported an increase in assets in the amount of 19.954.
At the beginning of November, the three initiated a mediation procedure before the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, demanding that the Agency pay them what, as they claim in the proposals, they were entitled to according to the previously valid Law on Prevention of Corruption - a monthly salary supplement in the amount of 30 percent. Perović and Paović requested a settlement for the period from 2020 to the end of 2023, and Vukašinović for the period from 2021 to the end of last year.
Some time later, other employees of the Agency submitted similar requests, but, according to the information of the Trade Union Organization ASK, the competent court did not confirm the settlement to all of them, even though they were in the same legal situation as the management.
The ASK trade union organization announced that they will ask the competent prosecutor's office to investigate the manner in which the Basic Court in Podgorica confirmed the settlement to the management, but not to the employees. They also say that they will notify the institution of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests, with a request to start the procedure for canceling the management agreement, given that it is "about three special employees in the state who received a salary increase in the total amount of 60 percent, which is contrary to the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector".
Jelena Perović has been under house arrest since mid-April because the Special State Prosecutor's Office accuses her of abusing her official position and damaging the state budget for more than 100.000 euros, through the allocation of variables to herself and a selected circle of officials, as well as compensation for work in the Agency's working bodies, overtime and work on holidays...
How the director "got along" with the assistants
According to the documentation that "Vijesti" received with the help of the NGO MANS support service for journalists, in the case of Paović and Vukašinović's request, Jelena Perović was their "adversary" before the mediators of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution.
She did not oppose the demands of her colleagues.
"The legal representative of the counter-proposal, Director Jelena Perović, explains that Article 96 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates that the employees of the Agency have the right to a 30 percent salary supplement, which supplement is given to the appointed from the day of appointment to the position of Acting Assistant Director, i.e. from May 1, 5, until the day the proposal was submitted, it was not paid... He further clarifies that the position of the Agency's management is that the appointee is entitled to a salary supplement in the amount of 2021 percent, but until now there has been no court practice on this matter. However, this position has now been confirmed by the decisions of the Basic Court and the High Court in Podgorica, in which it was decided on the compensation for damages due to the lower compensation paid to the president of the Commission for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest, which established that he was entitled to the coefficient for the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms , as prescribed in Article 30 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption...", it is stated in the documentation relating to Vukašinović.
It was emphasized that "The Law on the Prevention of Corruption is the lex specialis in relation to all laws and regulations that regulate the earnings of employees in the public sector".
Article 96 of the previously valid Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates that the regulations on civil servants and employees are applied to the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the employees of the Agency.
"Employees in the Agency have a monthly salary supplement in the amount of 30 percent. The Director of the Agency has the right to earn the amount determined for the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro. The powers from the law regulating the salaries of civil servants and state employees are exercised by the director, in accordance with the available budget," says the law, which was in force for eight years, i.e. until June 12.
By decision of the Government Dritan Abazović from August 2022, Perović, Paović and Vukašinović have a 30 percent salary increase.
ASK trade union: They used all the loopholes in the regulations for their own interest
Assistant Nina Paović filed a special property report at the end of February, claiming that she had increased her property by 19.954, and stated that the reason was "compensation for damages from the employment relationship".
"Vijesti" then asked the Agency what kind of compensation for damage it was, but they did not answer, which is why the newsroom used the service of MANS, in order to get the information from state authorities.
This is how the documents for the two assistants arrived, although Vukašinović has not yet reported his compensation because, according to unofficial information, he has not yet withdrawn the money from the state treasury.
For months, the editorial team addressed the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Podgorica Basic Court, which refused requests for access to information, because the settlement with Perović was not concluded.
"Jelena Perović, as the proposer, concluded a settlement with the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as an opponent before the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, by which ASK is obliged to pay Jelena Perović the amount of 2.723,25 euros in the name of less paid wages and 449,83 in the name of the associated interest, 24 for the period from July 7, 2020 to November 1, 11, as well as the amount of 2023 euros and 26.121,8 in interest for the same period in the name of the 4.326 percent salary supplement. The said settlement was confirmed by the court", the spokeswoman of the Basic Court, a judge, answered recently to "Vijesta". Ivana Becic.
The ASK trade union organization is concerned "that the court agreed with the fact that a public official can receive a 60 percent salary supplement, contrary to Article 17 of the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector."
"...Which prescribes that the salary supplement can be up to 45 percent of the basic salary. It is also worrisome that the director and two assistants accepted each other's demands in the process of peaceful dispute resolution," said the president of the trade union organization. Dušan Drakić.
According to him, "the key is the bad practice that has characterized the work of this management - to use every, even minimal loophole in the regulations, in order to enable each other, that is, themselves, to gain financial profit".
"So, for her bad work, the director of KAS was honored with an allowance of 30 percent provided for by the Law on Prevention of Corruption and another 30 percent according to a special allowance assigned to her by the Government of Montenegro. Thus, she and her two closest associates are probably the only ones in Montenegro who received a 60 percent salary supplement for their mandate. Congratulations! Unheard of and insatiable," said Drakić.
He emphasized that the trade union organization will inform the institution of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests about possible violations of the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector, with a request to initiate the procedure for annulment of those agreements, because they contain provisions that are contrary to imperative norms and therefore null and void.
"...Because the agreement in question exceeded the limit from the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector of 45 percent of the salary supplement on any basis. It is also indicative that the director herself, on the basis of the findings of an expert whom she chose and to whom she gave the task on the method of calculation, awarded a 60 percent salary increase, which, unfortunately, we have to state, the court failed to notice, confirming this illegal agreement. It is particularly indicative that the agreements of individual employees, due to the incorrect calculation of the salary increase of 30 percent, were rejected by the same court, even though the legal position in the specific case is identical, which is why we will contact the competent state prosecutor's office regarding the review of the procedure for concluding the agreement for the director and two assistants in the Agency in the total amount of more than 70.000 euros", concluded Drakić.
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