The capital city of Podgorica spent over €1.3 million in only two pre-election months on rehabilitation and construction of local infrastructure, according to the analysis of MANS Investigation Center and Vijesti.
According to the official data on the spending of the budget of the Capital, nearly €900,000 was paid for the item “expenditures for local infrastructure” in August, shortly after the elections were called. Additional €440,000 was spent in September, in the midst of the election campaign.
When it comes to the August expenditures, €680,000 was spent on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of local roads, while additional €156,000 was spent to build a landfill and around €47,000 for the recycling site.
In September, the Capital spent nearly €400,000 more on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of local roads, while €45,000 was spent for rehabilitation of roofs, facades, entrances and renovation of buildings of local community centers.
The Public Relations Bureau of the Capital City claim that “this is not about the abuse, but, on the contrary, obeying the Decision on the budget of the Capital City, the Fiscal Responsibility Law and other applicable legislation.”
They state that the investments of the Capital in program activities and investments from the day of calling the elections until today performed exclusively in accordance with the Decision on the Budget and the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns: “Authorized officers of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, carrying out regular control of the implementation of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns on 30 September 2016 concluded that the Capital does everything in accordance with the law”.
The mayor of the Capital, Slavoljub Stijepović, on 29 August, at the height of the election campaign, amended the budget for this year with a special decision and increased funds for the local infrastructure of the municipality of Tuzi for €180,000.
It is particularly interesting that this money was provided by reducing the funds for capital projects. Therefore, right before the elections, the funds were spent on paving roads and public illumination, i.e. on those projects that are suspected to be used for pressure on voters before the election.
Thus, €110,000 was taken from the budget item “investments – Sports Hall in Tuzi,” while €70,000 was taken from the item “investments – Construction and renovation of cultural facilities for the needs of Local community Karabusko polje and Miljes”. The decision says that instead of defined projects that were planned for this year, the Capital would finance the rehabilitation of local roads in Tuzi with €140,000, while the remaining €40,000 would be provided for the construction and reconstruction of public illumination.
So, instead of the capital projects, such as sports hall and cultural facilities that the whole community would benefit from, the Capital spends money on projects that can be selectively implemented in the field, using them as a means of blackmail on the eve of the election.
The Capital, however, points out that the budget of the Capital is planned in accordance with the requirements and suggestions of all units that consume the budget.
“However, throughout the year, due to certain circumstances, some projects could not be implemented. Such circumstances are unresolved property relations, in the case of the sports hall, or the absence of the detailed urban plan for facilities in the local communities Karabusko polje and Miljes. Thus, in order to realize the planned assets, in accordance with the regulations, the funds were channeled in order to be spent within the budget year”.
The Capital headed in covering up the data
Data analyzed by MANS Investigation Center and Vijesti is only a part of the data in possession of the Capital and which were kept hidden from the public and media during the election campaign. In addition to data obtained from statements of account, MANS used the Law on Free Access to Information, as the information published by the Capital were not sufficient to assess the level and intensity of misuse of public funds for electoral purposes. Unfortunately, most of the requests for information that MANS has so far sent, related to the purposes of certain payments that can be seen from the statements of account, are still without an answer.
Dejan Milovac
Tina Popovic
This text is created with the support of the European Union and the US Embassy in Podgorica. Network for Affirmation of Non-Governmental Sector – MANS is solely responsible for the contents of this article, and the views taken herein shall not in any case be considered as those of the donors.
