The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) today issued two separate decisions establishing that former judge of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Hasnija Simonović and special prosecutor in the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) Ana Perović Vojinović violated the provisions of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption.
In the decision regarding Simonović, ASK states that the procedure was initiated upon the initiative of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), which was submitted on June 7, 2024.
The submitted documentation states that in March 2022, husband Simonović purchased an apartment in Risan measuring 141 square meters, and that the property increase transaction in the amount of more than 5.000 euros was reported in an extraordinary report on February 27, 2022.
MANS pointed out that Simonović did not report this apartment in the report submitted 30 days after the termination of her judicial office on January 29, 2023.
ASK states that a check of the records confirmed that the apartment was registered in the name of the former judge's husband in the Real Estate Administration registry at the time of submitting the report, and that a contract was concluded in October 2023 to gift the property to another person.
Simonović stated in her statement that the apartment had already been reported previously in the form of an extraordinary report, and that the omission in the report on the cessation of function was the result of a technical error.
She explained that in January 2023, the apartment was definitely registered in the registry in her husband's name, so she "considered that this information was already part of the complete records that the Agency has."
She also pointed out that she prepared the report "in specific circumstances, immediately after the dismissal," and that she was confident that there were no changes in the status of the property that would require additional reporting.
"The Agency assessed the statements from the statement of the appointee, as well as the statements on the results of the investigation procedure, but found that they had no impact on a different decision in this administrative matter, because Article 25, paragraph 2 of the Law stipulates that a public official is obliged to provide accurate and complete data in the report on income and assets, which was not provided in this case," the decision states.
In the second decision, the ASK determines that Special Prosecutor Ana Perović Vojinović violated the obligation to submit a regular annual report on income and assets for the previous year.
The procedure was initiated on the initiative of a MANS dated May 14, 2025, which indicated that the report for 2024 was not published in the register of public officials.
"It is determined that Ana Perović Vojinović violated Article 25, paragraph 3, indent 1 of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, by failing to submit to the Agency the Report on Income and Assets for 2024 within the legally prescribed deadline," it states.
Perović Vojinović stated in her statement that the delay was caused by changes in technical procedures and the application system, explaining that the Agency was changing electronic platforms and forms during that period.
She stated that because of this, "it took time to enter precise data", and that she was also staying abroad at the same time due to the issue of her child's education, which, she claims, limited her ability to devote herself to fulfilling her obligations within the deadlines.
ASK notes that, despite the above, the report was only submitted on May 29, 2025.
The decision states: "A review of the register of public officials determined that the report was completed electronically on May 29, 2025... which is after the expiration of the legally prescribed deadline."
ASK assessed that the reasons stated by the public official do not affect the possibility of a different decision, recalling that the law stipulates that the annual report must be submitted by the end of March of the current year.
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