Vesna Bratić's account remains without a tavern keeper?

Lack of compensation for damages in the case brought by the state before the Podgorica Basic Court against the former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vesne Bratic It would mean a lack of responsibility in performing public office and ignoring the position that the courts have already taken in proceedings following lawsuits filed by dismissed kindergarten and school directors.

That was yesterday, during closing arguments in the judge's courtroom. Nikola Bošković, said the Deputy Protector of Property and Legal Interests Aleksandar Veljović.

He reiterated his position yesterday that Bratić should compensate for the damage incurred based on the payments of fees and costs of proceedings to former directors, whose dismissals were annulled by the courts. The damage has been determined so far, an economic and financial expert announced during the proceedings. Srdjan Pupovac, amounts to just over 26.000 euros.

Veljović also reminded that Bratić's responsibility stems from around 150 final judgments in which the courts annulled dismissal decisions, because, as he said, she dismissed directors contrary to the law:

"She even issued a decision to dismiss the deceased," he said, stating that this "confirmed the elements of unlawful conduct," Veljović said yesterday.

He also said that "the facts established in the final judgments indicate the existence of at least extreme negligence in the actions of the former minister."

Attorney Bratić, lawyer Aleksandar Rmus proposed that the lawsuit be dismissed, and submitted a final written statement to the court and the state representative, where he repeated the positions from the response to the lawsuit that the Office of the Attorney General for Property Disputes in proceedings initiated by the directors “did not use any legal remedy to challenge the decisions regarding litigation costs, in relation to which the alleged material damage is claimed”.

He also claims that the state's legal representatives have not provided any evidence to support "the thesis of their lawsuit that the defendant intentionally or through gross negligence caused material damage in terms of the costs of the litigation that were incurred as a result of the procedural actions of the plaintiff (school principal)."

"In this specific case, there is no causal link between the defendant's actions and the occurrence of the damage, which the plaintiff treats as arising from the litigation costs awarded in the litigation proceedings initiated by the dismissed directors of public institutions-schools before the competent courts," states the submission submitted by Rmuš as his final presentation, which "Vijesti" has access to.

Veljović, however, emphasized that all the cases that the dismissed principals brought against the state had a common circumstance - they were resolved with the explanation that they had not formed school boards, although they could not have done so unless the minister had previously appointed representatives of the education sector to those bodies.

"The defendant did not appoint members of the school boards in any school before issuing the decision on dismissal. The minister's obligation to appoint board members is clearly prescribed by law, which is why she must have been aware of it," Veljović said, adding that Bratić "neglected the legal procedure and thus acted unlawfully."

"Vijesti" previously received confirmation from the office of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro (ZIPI) that the dismissals in question were covered by the first lawsuit filed by ZIPI, and at that time they specified that, according to the Law on Obligations, claims must be filed no later than six months from the occurrence of the damage, which is why other lawsuits against the former public official can be expected in the coming period.

Judge Bošković announced yesterday that the verdict in this case will be rendered within 30 days.

The Special State Prosecutor's Office is also investigating the case of the dismissal of more than 150 directors of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, based on a report from the Center for Civic Education (CCE) from September 2022.

Along with the application, CCE submitted the findings of the State Audit Institution (SAI), which gave a double negative opinion on the work of the Ministry, which was then headed by Bratić, and which had a budget of 220 million euros at its disposal.

The SAI report listed numerous illegalities, including improper transfers of funds worth more than six million euros, failure to comply with the law in planning the revenues and expenditures of public institutions worth over 19 million euros, discrepancies in records of employee service, payments of benefits without documentation, expenditures without supporting evidence, consulting contracts worth more than 3,5 million euros without a legal basis, as well as the implementation of public procurement contrary to the law.

The CCE then assessed that the SAI's findings were a sufficiently strong basis for priority action by the SDT, since the supreme audit institution already had the relevant documentation, testimonies and expertise necessary for a detailed investigation.

Although the Prosecutorial Council previously determined that the acting prosecutor had not worked on the case in a timely manner and ordered her to intensify her actions, there was no concrete progress even after the case was taken over by another prosecutor.

Two months ago, the CCE pointed out that Montenegro is entering the third year since the filing of the report - without any epilogue before the SDT, assessing that "the persistent ignoring of this case indicates a selective approach in processing criminal reports, contrary to the principles of the rule of law."

Bratić: We'll be waxing.

Bratić commented on her Facebook profile yesterday about the end of the trial in the proceedings brought against her by the state. She claims that "'Vijesti' did not, of course, intentionally write that the 'protector', whose work we will take seriously, asked for 100.000 and that the expert determined that the cost was 20.000 - including her absences, postponements of the hearing, and interest on the amount not paid on time."

"...Her failure to act when it comes to filing complaints with higher authorities, her bias and pressure from the 43rd Government, which exposed the showdown with me. We'll be fine! I doubt she's read Gundulić, and she has a material error in her lawsuit."

"But let her read it. If we exclude Telekom (a Đukanović-backed company), who will pay for the Krstovićs, the judge, the prosecutor, the interpreter, her? Who will pay for Dr. Kadić and Bulatović," Bratić said on Facebook.