How did the company "Toškovići" get jobs for the reconstruction of roads in PG, none of which were completed on time

In mid-February, the Agency for Construction and Development of Podgorica awarded the company "Toškovići" the job of reconstructing the 18th of July street in the Momišići neighborhood of Podgorica. The contract worth 400 euros with this company was signed by the director of the Agency, Srđan Raičević, at a time when its owner, Ivica Tošković, had already been convicted of creating a criminal organization and tax evasion for three months. Along with the application for this tender, Ivica Tošković submitted a Certificate from the Ministry of Justice from August last year, in which it is stated that he has not been convicted!

The Agency replied to MANS that they did not additionally check the documentation submitted by Tošković, but nevertheless emphasized that it was in accordance with the Law on Public Procurement:

"The bidder "Toškovići" d.o.o. submitted a certified copy of the Certificate of the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro dated August 09, 2019, that for Ivica Tošković there is no information in the criminal record about the person's conviction, which had not expired at that time, and no additional verification", said the Agency for Construction and Development of Podgorica.

In addition to this work, the company "Toškovići" was previously assigned the reconstruction of Veliša Mugoša Street in Zagorič and Vuk Karadžića Street in the center of the capital. Both contracts, worth over one and a half million euros, were signed by the Agency in October last year, after the High Court in Podgorica confirmed the plea agreement with the owner of the company, Ivica Tošković.

MANS, which filed a criminal complaint against Tošković and Mayor Ivan Vuković at the beginning of this week due to the disputed business with Podgorica's "Vodovod", warns that the city administration did not take into account the protection of the public interest:

"It is unacceptable that millions of euros from the city coffers go into the pockets of persons convicted of serious crimes, and only these cases that we pointed out confirm that the capital city does not carry out even the most basic checks of publicly available information. The information that Tošković was sentenced was publicly available, and the obligation of the Capital City was to protect the public interest in any case. "MANS has already demanded from the prosecution to check in detail all relations between Tošković and the leading people of the city administration and determine what was the motive of mayor Vuković and other city officials to spend the money of the citizens of Podgorica in this way," MANS said.

That the affairs with the company "Toškovići" were harmful to the interests of the citizens of Podgorica is also shown by the condition of the construction sites where this company is carrying out work.

On the street 18. jula, the works were supposed to be finished at the end of August, and apart from the excavated street and part of the machinery, there are currently no workers from the "Toškovići" company there.

Works on Veliše Mugoše Street began at the end of last year. The deadline for completing the work was a little more than three months. The situation on the ground shows that the company "Toškovići" has not completed this work even after several months of breaking the deadline.

The most valuable contract, in the amount of around 850 euros, related to Vuk Karadžić Street, the reconstruction of which began at the end of November last year, with the obligation that Tošković complete all the work within three months. Although opened for traffic, the reconstruction of this road is not yet finished. The fact that the Capital did not skimp when it comes to this contract is also shown by the price of the greenery that the street is equipped with. 38 "camphors" were planted, and each tree was paid for at a price of around 530 euros.

They justify breaking the deadlines in the Agency with reasons of which, as they state, "the majority were not known at the time of setting the deadlines for the completion of the works", including underground installations that they did not know existed: weather conditions, national and New Year's holidays, unresolved property relations, and the virus epidemic corona. The Agency also refers to the Decision on mitigating the financial consequences of the coronavirus, which was passed by the Assembly and gives contractors the option of extending the completion of the works.

MANS assesses that most of the jobs that were contracted with Tošković should have been completed before the corona virus epidemic, but also that the other reasons given by the Agency are extremely frivolous and point to an extremely poorly prepared tender procedure.

The MANS Research Center sent questions regarding the affairs of the company "Toškovići" to Mayor Ivan Vuković, but as in the case of the contract with "Vodovod", no answer came from his office.