(Podgorica, 17 April 2013) – Today MANS contacted the Supreme State Prosecutor, Veselin Vuckovic, to press charges against 14 individuals. MANS alleges abuse of public office and violations of election laws. The charges submitted bear upon illegal vote buying in Plevlja through one-time social assistance benefits.
Charges have been laid against Suad Numanovic, the current Minister of Human and Minority Rights and the former Minister of Labor and Social Security. They were also laid against Jus Asanovic, the director of Plevlja’s Centre for Social Work (CSW) and a member of the DPS Municipal Committee in that city; as well as against Ermin Nuhanovic, also a Plevlja CSW employee and a member of the DPS Municipal Committee. Other local DPS activists in Plevlja that are facing related charges include: Joka Đačić, Vanja Sokić, Dragoljub Mazalica, Sead Vesnić, Dragan Tošić, Dušan Knežević, Rade Strunjaš, Nada Borović, Abdulah Šulović, Sadik Bulut and Amer Hadžalić.
In the lead up to the October 2012 parliamentary election, then Minister of Labor and Social Security, Numanovic ensured that Plevlja’s Centre for Social Work receive funds approved for the payment of one-time social assistance. These funds were used, it is alleged, for vote buying in Plevlja.
The analytical cards of the Plevlja CSW indicate that two large withdrawals were made worth €19,750 for the payment of social benefits. In a separate document recording the transfer of funds, signed by DPS coordinators, this exact amount is noted. The entry specifies that Nuhanovic transferred the €19,750 to DPS coordinator Dacic.
In a separate document, a list of DPS Municipal Committee presidents is included, as well as the amounts debited for the further distribution of moneys that Nuhanovic had passed on. All of this was done under the pretence of one-time social assistance to those needing it. Local committee presidents received substantial sums of money from these funds.
The money received by these individuals was further subdivided in the field according to a separate, internal, DPS electoral list. This list included basic information about voters, their address, their polling stations, as well as a separate column whose heading reads “types of assistance.”
Similarly, prosecutors received a portion of the separate lists concerning payments made that were uncovered by MANS’ investigations centre listing the names of those who received €50 in one-time social assistance (as confirmed by their signatures). All of these individuals can be found in the DPS’ internal voter list.
The Law on Social and Child Protection clearly stipulates that one-time social assistance can only be granted on the basis of a clearly stipulated need. In fact there isn’t even a fixed amount of assistance that could be transmitted in this manner and is simply based on the needs of socially vulnerable persons.
