Former members of the ASK Council received 48.711 euros more than they were supposed to

The previous five-member convocation of the Council of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption received almost 50.000 euros more than what they were entitled to according to the then valid Law on Prevention of Corruption.

That is why the new convocation during yesterday's electronic session invalidated the Decision on determining the amount of compensation for the work of the president and members of the Council of the Agency from 2017, in which the then president Goranka Vučinić calls for the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector, not the parent Law on Prevention of Corruption.

The Law on Salaries in the Public Sector stipulates that the remuneration of the president of the governing body cannot be higher than the average salary of the employees of that legal entity in the previous year, while the member can receive a maximum of 70 percent of that salary.

The Law on Prevention of Corruption, which was valid from January 2016 to June 12 of this year, stipulated that the president and member of the Council have the right to a monthly allowance in the amount of 50 percent of the average gross salary in Montenegro in the previous year.

The Council of the Agency overruled the decision of Vučinić yesterday, and according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", along with the disputed document, they were also provided with an overview of the balance in relation to the fees paid to the previous convocation.

According to that documentation, the previous convocation of the Council in composition Momcilo Radulović, Vučinić, Gavrilo Čabarkapa, Rifat Hadrović i Zlatko Vujović, during their four-year mandate, they earned 48.711,31 euros more than what was prescribed by the Law on Prevention of Corruption.

For 2019, the documentation states, this composition earned 4.452,5 euros more than it should have, and for 2020, 12.682,92 euros more than the Law on Prevention of Corruption provides.

During 2021, they received 11.242,68 euros more than the basic regulation provides, and in 2022, 11.223,54 euros more.

For seven months in 2023, as long as they were in office until the end of their mandate, they received 9.109,67 euros more.

A similar offense was found at the beginning of the year by the Budget Inspection, which emphasized in its finding that the Agency illegally paid fees and rewards to the previous convocation of the Council. The report also states that she paid twice as much money as required by regulations...

The Ministry of Finance submitted that report to the Special Prosecutor's Office, after which the former director was arrested in mid-April Jelena Perović. She is under house arrest on suspicion of abusing her position, and as previously announced by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, prosecutors also suspect that she damaged the state budget by more than 100.000 euros.

It was Perović, in the proceedings before the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, who, at the request of the employees, claimed that, when it comes to salaries, the "Law on the Prevention of Corruption is lex specialis".

She was dismissed last week, and at the beginning of this week she asked to receive an official compensation in the following year, and the Council, as the vice-president of that body told journalists yesterday, was unanimous in its decision to approve her request.

Drakić acting director

At yesterday's session, the council appointed the acting director Dusan Drakić.

The president voted for such a decision, "Vijesti" was told Pavle Ćupić, members Dragana Šuković i Slavica Mirković, while Mladen Tomović asked to be excluded from the vote, because for a certain period he was Drakić's representative in disputes that were conducted before the Agency. Aleksandra Vukašinović she was restrained.

According to the KAS statute, which was adopted on August 19 and published in the Official Gazette a day later, the Acting Director of the Agency is elected by a simple majority - the votes of three out of five members of the Council.

Tomović told journalists yesterday that Drakić is the official with the longest tenure in the anti-corruption system of Montenegro.

He also emphasized that three candidates were in circulation, but that in the end, after the request to conduct an interview, one candidate remained - Drakić.

Tomović, when asked to comment on the allegations that Drakić has worked illegally in certain situations, stated that it was published in certain media and that they received answers to the accusations during the interview with the candidate.

"The application was submitted by an employee. All members of the Council are familiar with the initiative. We all got answers to the above questions. On this occasion, we will schedule a special thematic session of the Council... All those persons whom the Council considers to be relevant will be invited", said Tomović, stressing that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against Drakić.

Drakić was the head of the Department for the implementation of measures to control the financing of political entities and election campaigns. Since June of last year, he has been the president of the Trade Union Organization of the Agency.

Shortly after the establishment of the Trade Union Organization, the first in a series of disciplinary proceedings was initiated against him, he was suspended at the beginning of August 2023, and by the end of the year disciplinary proceedings were initiated against other members of the Trade Union Organization. Drakić has been working in the field of anti-corruption since 2007, and over the years he has participated in the drafting of laws and several strategic documents.