ASK: Sjekloća was in conflict

STojan Sjekloca, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Post of Montenegro, violated the Law on the Prevention of Corruption because he entered into an employment relationship with the Post on January 4, 2022, while he was still formally a member of the Board of Directors of that company, the decision of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption states.

The decision specifies that he did not previously inform the Board of Directors about the existence of this private interest, and he did not have their consent for this employment relationship.

Sjekloća resigned as a member of the Board of Directors on December 13, 2021. According to the Law on Business Companies, the resignation of one member of the Board of Directors is considered the termination of the mandate of the entire Board of Directors.

However, this resignation was not confirmed, so Sjekloća was still formally a member of the Board of Directors when the Post signed a contract with the company "Tehnomax" on December 29, 2021, to take him on as an employee. His employment at the Post began on January 4, 2022, as the head of internal control.

As stated in the explanation of the decision, Sjekloća withdrew his resignation following changed circumstances on January 12, 2022.

ASK states that the investigation into Sjekloća's employment was initiated at his initiative, but it is not stated whose initiative it was. Over the past three years, as a member of the board of directors, Sjekloća has repeatedly publicly criticized the company's management, accusing them of nepotism, wrong business decisions, poor treatment of workers, and causing damage to the company...

The agency states that the agreement on the takeover of employees had to be approved by the Board of Directors, and that Sjekloća was a member of the Board of Directors, although resigned, when the agreement on his takeover was signed, and that this could have led to a conflict of interest.

At the request of ASK, the Post's management announced in a letter dated February 21, 2025 that Sjekloća had not obtained the consent of the board of directors for concluding the takeover agreement, that is, that the Post was not in possession of such a document.

ASK states that, upon reviewing its opinion given on March 23, 2022, it determined that Sjekloća received approval from the Board of Directors on December 30, 2021 to begin employment at the Post Office, and that they then determined that if a public official (member of the Board of Directors) participates in a discussion and decision-making in which he or a related person has a private interest, he is obliged to inform the other participants in the discussion about this before making a decision.

Upon ASK's additional request, the Post Office informed the Agency on June 10 this year that they had no evidence that Sjekloća had made a statement about the existence of a private interest. ASK concluded that the resignation and subsequent withdrawal could be considered evasion of legal obligations to report a possible conflict of interest.

On June 2, 2023, Sjekloća was assigned to the position of head of logistics, processing and distribution, where he worked until October 27, 2023, when the company's management fired him, citing "unjustified failure to act on the order of his immediate manager", "abuse of position or excess of authority" and "violent, improper or offensive behavior towards customers or employees or display of any form of intolerance".

Sjekloća then said that the reason for his dismissal was that on August 28, 2023, he initiated disciplinary proceedings against two female workers, who, as he said, were related to officials, for violating work obligations, and that everything culminated in his public appearance on "Vijesti" when he supported the strike at the Post Office.