Today, the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) filed a request to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) to initiate proceedings in which it will determine whether public officials Milo Đukanović and Branimir Gvozdenović violated the Law on Prevention of Corruption because there is a suspicion that in their income and property report from 2011 they did not report a revenue from a gift by the President of Atlas Group Duško Knežević, worth tens of thousands of Euros.
In the reasoning of the request it is stated that the President Đukanović and the Vice President of the Parliament Gvozdenović, in the annual reports on income and property after the cessation of the office of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection from 2011, did not provide complete information in accordance with the Article 19 of the Law on Prevention conflict of interest.
“There is a suspicion that Đukanović and Gvozdenović in their 2011 report did not mention revenue in the part of the income based on the gift from Duško Knežević, in the amount of tens of thousands of Euros, for travel and accommodation expenses at the One & only Royal Mirage Hotel in Dubai in the period from 25.03. – 30.03.2010”, it is stated in the request.
In the article “Milov, Lidijin i Branov provod u Dubaiju platio 29.500 eura”, published today by Dan, it is stated that Knežević paid invoices for the journey and stay of Gvozdenović, Đukanović and his wife Lidija in Dubai at the One & only Hotel Royal Mirage Hotel. The article states that the travel and accommodation expenses amounted to €29,500 and that Knežević said that the total costs he had paid for them exceeded €50,000. The article also includes the evidence: airplane tickets and invoices submitted to Knežević for payment.
In addition, there is a suspicion that these are gifts that Đukanović and Gvozdenović, as public officials, pursuant to the Article 14 paragraph 1 of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, were not allowed to receive and which they were obliged to refuse. The provision of Article 23, paragraph 2 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates that a public official shall be obliged to provide accurate and complete information in the report, which Đukanović and Gvozdenović did not do.
MANS urges APC to request from Đukanović and Gvozdenović to submit a written statement regarding allegations in this request within 15 days, after which the authorized officer of the APC would conduct an oral hearing to which an authorized representative of MANS will be invited. It is also requested for the Director of the Agency, within the legal deadline, to afterwards decide that the President of the State and the Vice President of the Parliament violated the Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest related to the reports on the revenues and property of a public official.
On January 23, MANS filed a request to initiate a proceeding in which APC would determine whether Đukanović had violated the law, since there is a suspicion that he did not report the income from Atlas Bank in the amount of at least €16,741.24. APC rejected the request, after which MANS filed a criminal complaint against the director of the Agency, Sreten Radonjić, on February 1, due to a suspicion that he had misused his official position.
MANS
