The Basic Court in Podgorica yesterday suspended criminal proceedings against the former assistant director of the Institute of Public Health (IJZ). Miljana Pavličić due to lack of evidence.
According to unofficial information, Pavličić did not commit the crime of fraud in an extended period and acquired unlawful material benefit, and in this case, we can speak more about the Institute's failures in not checking her educational documents, than about Pavličić misleading them.
Competent in the Public Health Institute, according to the judge's assessment Borka Lončar, they were obliged to check, or rather demand from Pavličić, a diploma of completed university and a decision on the nostrification of the educational document, and not to establish and extend an employment relationship for 13 years without a complete personal file. Therefore, as "Vijesti" unofficially learned, it cannot be considered that the IJZ was led or maintained in a state of delusion, because it failed to obtain documentation for Pavličić's personal file through the competent authorities for a longer period.
Lončar allegedly stated in the decision that this is further indicated by the fact that the witnesses heard confirmed that they learned from the media that the defendant had forged her diploma, so it follows that the interest of the media and individual journalists without the jurisdiction of state authorities is sufficient to come to the conclusion that someone had forged an educational document, and that the authorities at the Institute were not able to do so during all the years of her employment.
Evidence destroyed by weather disasters
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Podgorica charged Pavličić with having intended to obtain an unlawful material benefit of over 30.000 euros, by misleading the Institute of Public Health by falsely presenting and concealing facts. An economic expert during the proceedings determined that she received gross salaries at the Institute in the amount of around 13 euros over 143.677 years.
The court, however, did not consider that she had acquired unlawful material gain because Pavličić received earnings for work actually performed during the disputed period, but also before it, and in the event that she had not been paid and the work had been performed, she could have recovered that earnings in civil proceedings for compensation for damages based on the work actually performed.
Pavličić, who was sentenced to four months in prison in 2014, suspended for two years, from 2010 until her dismissal at the end of 2023, for forging a diploma from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Belgrade, had a false certificate of completion of higher education in her work file, without a diploma, as well as a certificate of a professional exam before the Ministry of Health.
In the proceedings against her, it was not possible to check or submit additional documentation, because the Public Health Institute stated in a letter to the ODT that a large part of the documentation was destroyed in 2019 due to weather conditions.
The prosecution has three days to appeal Lončar's decision to the Higher Court in Podgorica.
In March this year, the Basic Court returned the indictment against Pavličić for further processing, in order to complete the investigation within two months. The prosecution was asked to state on the basis of what documentation Pavličić was employed and signed contracts and annexes to the employment contract, in order to assess whether there were any shortcomings in the work of the authorities at the Institute or whether Pavličić misled them.
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Worked with counterfeit for years
The ODT filed a criminal case back in November 2023, after "Vijesti" wrote that Miljana Pavličić had worked in responsible positions for years on the basis of a forged certificate of completion of studies at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade.
Data from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Belgrade, which "Vijesti" obtained more than a year ago based on a request for free access to information, shows that Pavličić was dismissed from that faculty in 2015.
A few days after the publication of the "Vijesti" investigation, it was revealed that Pavličić was sentenced in 2014 for the criminal offense of forging an educational document, on probation, which was confirmed by the Podgorica ODT and the Basic Court in Podgorica.
The conviction, the Basic Court in Podgorica explained at the time, did not even reach her employer, because Pavličić said in the general statements given during the trial that she was not employed. However, data from the employment record showed that the former assistant director did not terminate her employment at the Institute from 2010 to 2023.
Pavličić started working at the Institute of Public Health in 2010, and for the first year she worked at that institution as an intern in the laboratory for testing the quality of food and general objects and the laboratory for testing water, air and soil. From September 2011 to February 2018, she held the position of analyst, and her job description included determining quality parameters in food, spectrophotometric determination of phosphate, nitrite and diastase content, determining the content of preservatives, sweeteners, contaminants, HMF sugar using HPLC and ELISA tests, keeping records and preparing documentation for accreditation.
Since 2018, Pavličić has also been the person responsible for ISO 17025 standards at that healthcare institution.
This standard is a reference for laboratories, which allows them to implement a thorough quality system and demonstrate that they are competent to provide valid and reliable results. Thanks to this standard, test reports and certificates from accredited laboratories can be accepted worldwide, without the need for additional testing.
Pavličić was also the president of the Commission for Accreditation of Health Institutions, which was formed by the Ministry of Health.
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