The Special State Prosecutor's Office is "collecting information" about the events at the Government session, at which yesterday morning at the proposal of the Prime Minister, it appointed the Acting Director of the Police, although it is established by law that he is proposed by the Minister of the Interior.
"The competent state prosecutor's office collects information about the events during the Government session in order to make a decision regarding whether or not a case should be opened in a specific case," the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office replied to "News".
Several lawyers contacted by "Vijesti" said that the criminal offense is "abuse of official position", with the description of which Police Minister Danilo Saranović warned his colleagues in the Government after they rejected his proposal for acting police director and began to consider the possibility of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić proposed his candidate, the competent Special State Prosecutor's Office. "It is about the suspicion of corrupt behavior of state officials," said one interlocutor of "Vijesti".
The Podgorica Basic Prosecutor's Office told the newspaper that they are not dealing with that case.
The Criminal Code provides prison terms for abuse of official position by exceeding the limits of official authority.
According to Article 416 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, "an official who, by unlawfully exploiting his official position or authority, by exceeding the limits of his official authority or by failing to perform his official duty, obtains a benefit for himself or another, causes damage to another or seriously violates the rights of another, shall be punished with imprisonment of six months to five years”.
"Vijesti" has learned that the reports announced by Šaranović against the members of the Government who voted for Spajić's proposal have not yet been submitted, because its conclusions authorizing the Prime Minister to propose acting director of the police, as well as the decision appointing Aleksandar Radović as acting chief, have not yet been published. of the police.
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Lawyer and former MP Snežana Jonica said that the Government's decision on the election of acting police director is illegal because it was made on the basis of a proposal based on the illegal authorization of the Prime Minister.
According to "Vijesti" information, Spajić and seven ministers from the Europe Now Movement (PES) Naida Nišić, Maida Gorčević, Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, Saša Mujović, Filip Radulović, Filip Ivanović and Novica Vuković, who is a non-party person, voted for the election of Radović. The Minister of Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Janko Odović, who was previously excluded from the PES, also voted in favor.
Deputy Prime Minister Srđan Pavićević (CIVIS), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj (Albanian Alternative), as well as his party colleague, Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj, voted in favor.
Six members of the Government from Democratic Montenegro were against it - Vice Presidents Aleksa Bečić and Momo Koprivica, as well as ministers Danilo Šaranović, Dragan Krapović, Tamara Vujović and Vladimir Martinović, as well as Andrej Milović, Minister of Justice who was recently expelled from PES.
A source close to Milović said that he did not even vote for the illegal dismissal of Zoran Brđanin, so he did not want to "step on the Law on Internal Affairs" even yesterday. "He said that, as the Minister of Justice, who must produce the IBAR (Report on the assessment of the fulfillment of temporary standards in chapters 23 and 24), he must not and cannot participate in the violation of judgments, laws... He warned them all and possible consequences and separated his opinion", said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".
Ministers from the Socialist People's Party Vladimir Joković and Dragoslav Šćekić, Minister of Human and Minority Rights Fatmir Đeka (Democratic Party), and Minister of Health from PES Vojislav Šimun did not attend the session and vote.
Jonica explained that the Government, by concluding that it authorized the Prime Minister to propose the Acting Director of Police, violated Article 16 Paragraph 4 of the Law on Internal Affairs, which clearly stipulates that the Acting Director of Police is chosen by the Government on the proposal of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
"The government cannot change the law with a conclusion as an act of lower legal force, and this conclusion has done exactly that, because the government literally took over his legal powers from the minister of the interior and assigned them to the prime minister, which he must not do," Jonica told "Vijesta" ".
She believes that, since the Government's decision was made on the basis of a proposal based on the illegal authorization of the Prime Minister resulting from an illegal conclusion, the decision itself is illegal, because "right cannot arise from wrong".
PES MP and lawyer Darko Dragović announced last night that the Minister of the Interior is obliged to propose another candidate to the Government, which he did not do, thus "perhaps he himself entered the zone of criminal responsibility".
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He said that it is legally permissible for the Government not to accept the proposal of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
"... Šaranović obviously decided not to use his discretionary right by abusing his authority and not to propose a new candidate..." Dragović said.
Another legal expert said that Šaranović should have proposed a new candidate.
However, Jonica says that it is unclear under which agenda item the Government made the decision on the election of Radović last night.
"From the announcement of the Government, it can be seen that it is an announcement from the 20th session, that is, the same session at which the Government voted on the proposal... submitted by Minister Saranović and rejected that proposal. As far as I know the procedure, and after almost eight years in the Assembly, I claim that I know it well - with the vote on Šaranović's proposal, that item on the agenda and the agenda of that session were exhausted", said Jonica.
As he adds, the session's agenda was subsequently supplemented, which is illegal.
"Until the Government's announcement, I thought that Spajić scheduled the 21st session during the night and that this appointment was made during it. However, after this announcement, I realized (and I would like to be denied) that the session's agenda was subsequently supplemented, which is illegal. If the Government's website was more transparent or if Government sessions were broadcast, I wouldn't have to draw conclusions in this way," said Jonica.
There were three items on the agenda of the Government session.
The first item on the agenda was the Report on the conducted analysis of the registered interested persons for the position of Acting Director of the Police Administration with attachments, which was marked with the degree of secrecy "internal".
The second point was the list of applicants for the public invitation from March 4 this year, and the third was the proposal for the appointment of the acting director of the Police Administration, namely Lazar Šćepanović.
The Government's decision enters into force on the day of its adoption, so Radović took over yesterday from Zoran Brđanin, who was dismissed by the Government at the session last week.
Conclusions and decisions from the Government session were not published on the website, and according to "Vijesti" information, they were not delivered to interested parties last night, nor were they published in the Official Gazette.
Jonica says that the Law on Internal Affairs did not accidentally stipulate that the Minister of Internal Affairs is the only one authorized to propose candidates for both director and acting director of the police. He reminds that the current law brought the Police Directorate back under the auspices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and became one of the organizational units of this Ministry.
"Also, that this law stipulates that the director of the Police Directorate is responsible for his work to the minister and the government, not to the prime minister. On the other hand, the Law on the National Security Agency (ANB) stipulates that the candidate for the director of the ANB is proposed by the prime minister. Therefore, the legislator did not accidentally make a difference and gave the authority to propose the director of the police to the minister, and for the director of the ANB to the prime minister, and it does not matter, as some say, who will propose the acting director when the Government chooses, because if it did not matter who proposes, the legislator would not have regulated it precisely in both of these laws," explained Jonica.
The Government's decision enters into force on the day of its adoption, so Radović took over yesterday from Zoran Brđanin, who was dismissed by the Government at the session last week.
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Conclusions and decisions from the Government session were not published on the website, and according to "Vijesti" information, they were not delivered to interested parties last night, nor were they published in the Official Gazette.
Yesterday, the Government announced that Radović's six years of experience in Europol as Acting Director of the Police Administration is recommended, based on information from the Sky correspondence, numerous cases against organized crime and corruption are being processed, a rich work biography, as well as the fact that at the end of last year he made a key contribution to Montenegro avoids the gray list of Manival.
"Also, Radović is the only one with a full mandate as Assistant Director of the Police Administration," Spajić's explanation states, the Government announced.
Jonica: The law is not a buffet
Jonica warns that "the law is not a buffet table, so you can take what you like from it".
According to her, instead of this Government suppressing the practice of the previous one, when the then Minister of the Interior, Filip Adžić, said: "I don't think we have to be slaves to laws that are clumsily written", this Government upgraded it, so by acting like this, the Government is also sending such a message and the Prime Minister.
"If the Government is sending us a message with its actions - we don't have to stick to the law like a drunkard, what would happen if citizens started to behave in the same way in relation to all the norms they don't like," asked Jonica.
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She reminds all the actors of this story in the 44th Government - that only 130 days ago they swore "that they will perform their duty according to the Constitution and the law, honorably, responsibly and conscientiously".
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