MANS asked the Prime Minister Duško Marković to explain why the Government allocated apartments to public officials who should control whether that Government works lawfully or it violates citizens’ rights. We requested that all data on the conditions under which all public officials were granted loans and apartments, and the amounts allocated to them at the expense of the budget filled by the citizens of Montenegro, be published.
Foto: Boris Pejović
We ask the Prime Minister Duško Marković on what basis did some public officials receive money from the budget more than once?
Why are they privileged compared to other citizens of Montenegro? Why an official who earns €4,000 a month received a housing loan on several occasions, for which monthly installment does not exceed €40?
At the same time, an ordinary citizen of Montenegro, a tenant who is paid ten times less, who often works 7 days a week without insurance, pays huge interest to solve the housing problem. When the Government violates a citizen’s right, they should seek justice with an official to whom that government allocated money or an apartment.
Namely, officials of the judiciary and independent agencies, whose salaries amount to several thousand Euros, received large sums from the Government on several occasions, and it is these officials who decide on the legality of the decisions of the executive power that allocates money and apartments to them.
That is why citizens have the right to know all conditions under which the government favored these officials and how much money they received. This is especially significant given that many of them hid that they had received money or real estate from the state, and did not report them in their reports.
MANS has submitted requests for free access to information to the Secretariat-General of the Government, requesting that complete documentation be published.
At the moment, only information on the names of officials is available to the public, but citizens do not have information on how much money was given to these officials at the expense of the state budget, and how much they had to give back to the state, i.e. what was the explanation of those who made decisions on the reasons why the those officials were given money from the budget.
The Government’s conclusions, which we requested from the Secretariat-General, contain information on the amounts of loans that officials really had to repay, i.e. the prices at which they paid apartments to the state, and information on the amounts allocated from the budget, and some reasoning for such decisions should also be included.
Namely, some officials repaid only a small part of the amount of the loan received, so they would take €50,000, and repay only 10 or €15,000 to the state. It is also known that some of them gave the apartments they received from the state to their children, and then again received money from the state for new apartments.
That is why we demand that the Government finally act on several court verdicts adopted on the basis of MANS’ lawsuits and publish information on officials who received apartments or loans in the previous period so that the public can finally find out who received money from the budget of Montenegro’s citizens, how many times, under what conditions and from what reasons, and on the basis of whose decision.
NGO MANS
