We call on MPs to reject the adoption of the Agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until it includes anti-corruption clauses and precise mechanisms for preventing money laundering, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) announced today.
"Although the regime was formally removed almost five years ago, key personnel who in the past concealed, covered up or were part of structures that tolerated the influence of organized crime and corruption continue to decide on the most important security and financial issues in the country. At the head of the institution that is supposed to protect the system from dirty money is exactly such a person - Aleksandar Radović, the current assistant director of the Police Directorate for the financial and intelligence sector," the MANS statement said.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) added that from 2015 to 2021, Radović served as a liaison officer for the Police Directorate at Europol in The Hague, during a period when Europol's data on the infiltration of criminal structures into the Montenegrin police was systematically covered up.
"To date, the institution he heads has not had any serious results in detecting money laundering, even though Montenegro has been facing a huge amount of organized crime and high-level corruption for years. Despite this, the Prime Minister has publicly stated that 'there is no risk of money laundering' in connection with the agreement with the Emirates," MANS said.
They said that the UAE is internationally recognized as a destination for hiding illegally acquired capital, where financial data is closed to international exchange, and verification of the origin of money is almost impossible.
"For precisely these reasons, several MPs proposed that the agreement with the UAE include clauses that would guarantee mechanisms for the prevention of money laundering and ensure basic financial transparency. These proposals were rejected without serious debate, by the political majority which, while in opposition, claimed that a huge amount of money was being laundered in Montenegro. Today, when they became the government, they silently supported the agreement that opens the door wide for money laundering, and the only barrier to this remains the cadre of the previous regime - which is both politically and institutionally absurd," said MANS.
They conclude that Montenegro still has neither the political will nor the institutional ability to check who brings money into the country, nor whether that capital comes from criminal sources.
"And when we know that some of the most famous Montenegrin 'businessmen' have already found business refuge in the Emirates, it is clear who this scheme suits best. Therefore, the Agreement with the UAE, without any guarantees and control mechanisms, under these circumstances does not resemble economic partnership and development, but rather the continuation of the devastation of Montenegro under new pretexts," the MANS statement reads.
President Jakov Milatović did not sign the Law on Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism and Real Estate Development between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of the United Arab Emirates and yesterday returned it to the Parliament of Montenegro for reconsideration.
The Parliament of Montenegro adopted this law on April 23rd.
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