MANS today filed a criminal complaint to the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office against Finance Minister Radoje Zugic due to severe abuse of official position during planning of budget expenses for this year, which serves about ten million euros from the state treasury to be completely illegally set aside for new subsidies of Aluminium Plant Podgorica.
The basic Law on Budget stipulates that budget planning is based on projections of economic growth, macroeconomic stability and laws, which means that expenditures can not be projected that are contrary to other legislation.
Despite this clear definition, Zugic made possible that in the Budget for 2104 year multi-million dollar amounts are projected, which illegally shifts on the tax payers the burden of payments of new state aid and debts, which have been caused in connection with KAP’S unsuccessful business for decades.
Namely, with the Budget of 2014 it is planned that to the company “Montenegro Bonus” which manages KAP, to be paid four million euros for losses that have been caused due to the organization of production in the factory in Podgorica, while an additional three million euros is planned for solving social programs of employed in KAP and Boksit mine in Nikic.
Whit this the new state aid is actually scheduled for the company from Podgorica, which is contrary to the Law on the control of state aid, and the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Montenegro and the European Community, which clearly provides that the state aid may be granted only once, because otherwise the economic entity is favored and disrupts competition in the free market.
Through the state aid in the KAP in 2009 it is pumped 300 million euros, including issuing government guarantees of 135 million euros, that in the meantime are activated and charge, which is why the Government in the last year introduced to the citizens a serious of charges, such as increased PDV, the implementation of the crisis tax on salaries, fees “euro by euro” and freezing pensions.
In addition, the Government planned in the Budget for this year that the electricity debt to the European electricity interconnection that was stolen for KAP’s use, to be paid out of profits of the Montenegrin electro-transmission system. This is contrary to the Law on Energy, because the Government has no authority to schedule income of energy companies, because this right is in the exclusive jurisdiction of Regulatory energy agency, as an independent regulatory body.
Clearly, the Government does not care about warnings received from the European addresses on the violation of rules for the allocation of state aid, but at the expense of the citizen KAP is artificially kept alive, with unscrupulous neglecting of domestic laws and contrary to the healthy economic logic.
Finance Minister Radoje Zugic as a leading man of the organ responsible for drawing the national budget while its preparation must knew that the Government’s plans for KAP are completely illegal and contrary to public interest, and he must have been aware that what he does is a brutal violation of the laws and regulations in order to satisfy some private interests.
MANS
