The current draft of the Law on Prevention of Corruption which will in Montenegro for the first time establish a single agency to combat corruption, shows that the Government of Montenegro has no fundamental political will to create the conditions for the fight against corruption, especially the one at the highest level, but that the Government’s priority is to continue to protect those officers in its lines who violated laws and who for years illegally enriched at the expense of Montenegrin citizens.
Not only that the Government drastically delays the adoption of this law, which is suppose to unite all areas and institutions essentials for the fight against corruption, such as conflict of interest, protection of whistleblowers, integrity and lobbying, but the current version of the act which the Government is preliminary creator does not contain any serious mechanism that would eventually lead to some tangible results in this area.
The draft law, which yesterday considered the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, initially was prepared by a working group composed of representatives of the Government and non-government sector. Once the working group drafted a law, public hearing was conducted on which basis the Government itself determined its final version, throwing from it all those mechanisms which can provide an effective fight against corruption.
The worst was affected an area of preventing conflicts of interest, which retains almost the same legal framework as before, although it is widely known that Montenegro in this area recorded the weakest results, on which for years indicates and the European Commission through progress reports.
The Government, from the law draft made by a working group on the proposal of MANS, cleared a norm which stipulates that the false reporting of assets by public officials is a criminal offense, with the apparent intent to continue to leave a space for officials who hide their assets and for such behavior do not bare any serious consequences. Moreover, the Government rejected and the proposal of the legal program of the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro which suggest to codify in this law an institute of illegal enrichment, in order to safe of prison all those officials who have for years illegally acquired, actually stole money and property of all Montenegrin citizens.
As well, the Government rejected and the proposal of MANS to all existing public officials ban the opportunity to be members of the management board of state companies and to instead of them in the management board the Government appoints professionals. Our proposal was rejected even if the Government is aware that the membership in management boards serves only to give additional income to privileged officials, while at the same time those individuals, succeeded to destroy a large number of state-owned companies.
Because of all that, the Anti-corruption Agency which will be established for the first time, it will be no different from the current Commission for the Prevention of conflicts of interest, whose job will take over, and who based on bad laws for years make excuses for lack of their own results.
Nothing better were affected the area of people who report corruption, actually “whistleblowers”, which is now developing for the first time in a serious way. Instead of creating the broadest possible conditions to protect persons who report corruption from negative consequences from the people who are reported, the Government decided for a complete different principle. All suggestions by MANS that have tried to remove catastrophic provisions from the Governments’s proposal in this area are rejected without meaningful explanation.
Therefore, according to the proposal of the Government, to acquire the right to protection, actually status “whistleblower” you have to meet a set of criteria, which is set up in a way that in the practice no one would be able to do it. Thus, the Government suggests that, for example, a person who discovered the secret data in order to prove the existence of corruption can not enjoy the protection of the state, although that is completely contrary to all international Conventions which deal with this issue, as well as the views of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Moreover, the Government did not provide that employees report corruption directly to the Agency, but first they have to do that to the superiors, where they are employed, and then if the head of the body does not act on the application within 3 months, the application they can submit to the Agency. This provision is scandalous, bearing in mind that the majority of employed report their superiors, that certainly will not do anything to process themselves, but they will immediately take steps to avenge employee who reported them.
Also, by the law is prescribed that the right to protection will enjoy only those persons who reported corruption in “good faith” although it is nowhere explained what is considered as a good faith, which creates a huge space for abuses, actually to refuse to offer adequate protection to a person who suffers negative consequences.
All of this shows that the Government still does not have minimum political will to create a system in which corruption would be investigated and processed effectively, which is a key priority of Montenegro in the European integration process, but that a process of drafting and adoption of Anti-corruption law is one of many attempts to smear Brussels’s eyes and to buy a little extra time because the lack of basic results.
However, the processing of large fishes is a requirement of the European Union to continue to access Montenegro to the family of developed European countries, but also and a necessity that will not be able to be obstructed by deliberate adoption of bad laws, such as current draft of the Law on the prevention of corruption. This law is perhaps the best proof of the saying that “the fish rots from the head”, actually that between those in the Government who decided about its final version obviously have such fishes, who try to protect themselves at all coasts from prosecution and imprisonment because of corruption and conflict of interest, whose perpetrators were in the past years.
Vuk Maras
Director of Monitoring Program
