Perović: Members of the ASK Council are implementing a plan for my dismissal on behalf of the political parties

The dismissed director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK), Jelena Perović, said that her dismissal was "politically motivated" and that the political party on behalf of which, as she claims, the majority of the members of the ASK Council are implementing the plan for her dismissal, "obviously has a promise of impunity for many criminal works".

In the statement Perović published on the KAS website, he writes that the new KAS Council, when scheduling each session and requesting information, "violated" the Statute of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as well as the Rules of Procedure of the Council, and that with this request they "exceeded their competences, which are prescribed to you by the Law on Prevention of Corruption".

"In the spirit of carrying out a political agenda, breaking the law is the rule, and at the moment it is not sanctioned because the political party, on behalf of which most of you are implementing the plan for my dismissal, obviously has the promise of impunity for many criminal acts. this should be processed, after the institutions are returned to the legal framework".

Perović also listed the violations that, as she claims, were committed by the new ASK Council.

"The first violation that you committed is reflected in the way of scheduling Council sessions, because Article 16 of the Statute and Article 16a of the Council's Rules of Procedure stipulate that the Council session is attended by the director and other invited persons, who have the right to participate in the discussion, without the right to decide, and that in the case of the director's absence or inability, the meeting is attended by an employee authorized by the director, that is, if the order of speaking at the meetings is determined, the director has the right to take part in the discussion after the members of the Council.

The second violation is reflected in the fact that, at the constitutive session, you elected the deputy president of the Council, even though the valid legal acts do not prescribe this, because Article 12 of the Statute clearly stipulates that the Council has a president, four members and a secretary, and Article 13 of the Statute stipulates that the president of the Council, in case absence, is replaced by a member of the Council elected in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Council, and the Rules of Procedure of the Council stipulate in Article 12 that the Council session is presided over by the President of the Council, and in the case of his absence by one of the members of the Council, and that the members of the Council presiding over the session in the case referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, are rotated, in alphabetical order of the last names of the members of the Council.

The third violation that you have committed is reflected in the fact that you have scheduled a Council session every time contrary to Article 9 of the Council's Rules of Procedure, which stipulates that the convocation for the session and the materials are delivered to the members of the Council no later than seven days before the day set for holding the session, and exceptionally, when there are justified reasons for urgent action, the session of the Council can be convened by phone or e-mail, within a period shorter than the period from paragraph 3 of this article, which cannot be shorter than 48 hours, and certain materials can be delivered to the members of the Council before the beginning of the session .

The fourth violation is reflected in the fact that the Statute and the Rules of Procedure of the Council do not prescribe the possibility of holding an electronic session, which you nevertheless held and adopted the Code of Ethics and the Rules of Procedure of the Council at it, which will be very easily challenged in the competent court after the same to legal force.

The fifth violation is reflected in the fact that you gave the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption on August 13.08.2024, 94. submitted the Rules of Procedure of the Council in order to place them on the KAS website, even though the Law on Sealing Corruption, Article 2 paragraph XNUMX stipulates that the Rules of Procedure of the Council of ASK enter into legal force after publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro.

The sixth violation is reflected in the fact that, at the proposal of the Director, within 60 days from the date of entry into force of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, you did not adopt the acts prescribed by law, namely the Statute and the act on the internal organization and systematization of the Agency's workplaces, the rules on the work of the Agency and the rules for preparation and implementation of integrity plans, and in accordance with Article 116 in connection with Article 93 of the Law on Sealing Corruption, although the above documents were delivered to you before the deadline you set yourself, on August 09.08.2024, XNUMX. year, and you had time to act in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Corruption, but you obviously decided that the positive regulations do not bind you," Perović writes in the statement.

She added that the request for a statement related to the existence of grounds for dismissal from Article 98 paragraph 3 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, i.e. non-fulfillment of the conditions from Article 87 paragraph 3 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, which refers to the submission of at least three opinions on professional and work qualities from the company , another legal entity or entrepreneur with whom he works or has worked, that is, with whom he has achieved business cooperation, I consider very worrying, and it is not clear whether it is your ignorance or evil intent.

"As you should be aware, the above reasons were appreciated by the Administrative Court of Montenegro and in this regard it issued a final and enforceable decision U.No. 1194/21 dated 21.04.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX, which is also binding for you because cannot decide on the same matter, and we point out that you do not have the jurisdiction to assess the fulfillment of the conditions for the advertisement in question. regarded as unfounded and clear reasons were given to which we are referring you".

Perović also stated that any decision of the KAS council "contrary to the final and enforceable decision of the Administrative Court of Montenegro U. no. 1194/21 of April 21.04.2021, XNUMX will represent your unscrupulous work in the service".

"Regarding point three, we inform you that the Administrative Court passed the decision U. No. 3910/24 of 13.06.2024 June XNUMX, which annulled the decision of the Budget Inspection, which we are sending you in the attachment, and the supervision of the female inspectors was carried out illegally, but in accordance with the policy of certain political parties, in order to bring in the position of director as they have publicly declared, and you are implementing such decisions by your illegal actions point four, the Control Plan was changed after the Capital subsequently submitted a decision on the number of councilors and the changed amount of the Budget for the elections in Podgorica, which is certainly not the competence of the ASK Trade Union to report, and you to decide, but the members and the president trade unions could, as citizens, submit a complaint if something is disputed, and not abuse the trade union organization, whose mandate and jurisdiction are precisely determined by the Labor Law and the Branch Collective Agreement for the Administration and Judiciary".

In his statement, Perović also states that the complete documentation from point five is in SDT, which is why it could not be submitted.

"In relation to points six and seven, according to Article 93 of the Law on Sealing Corruption, you do not have the authority to control the aforementioned acts, and you can certainly give the initiative to improve the work of the Agency, as the Law on Sealing Corruption gives you the authority to do so. The Constitution of Montenegro The presumption of innocence is guaranteed above, so I inform you and warn you that you are obliged to respect it and that everyone is innocent until the contrary is proven by a final court decision conducts proceedings due to suspicion of corrupt practices, but I hope you will see that by breaking the law you will not contribute to the rule of law or to the advancement of ASK's position. The time is ahead of you in which you can prove that the rule of law and the interests of Montenegro are ahead of the political interests of certain groups which are already the subject of investigations in Montenegro and the EU and which are already feeling the negative consequences of their actions. That's why it doesn't matter how urgently you approach something, it's important to work legally and to understand that the fight against corruption is based primarily on the rule of law and reducing the influence of politics to the legal order, which I believe the public expects from you," concluded Perović.