Miraš Radović, Judge of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, will have to diligently allocate around €40 euros a month until 2029 to repay more than favourable housing loan of 40 thousand he was given ten years ago by the Government. In the meantime, the former Minister of Justice has acquired significant assets, which calls into question the justification of the Government’s decision to grant the loan, according to an analysis by the MANS Investigative Centre.
In 2009, as the then Minister of Justice, Judge Radović received a housing loan worth €40,000 from the Government of Montenegro, obliging him to repay only a quarter of that amount, while more than €30,000 was a gift. The housing issue of Radović was then “resolved” even though the then minister had an apartment of 83m2 in Podgorica.
Although the government loan was reported in the property card in 2009, the expansion of housing capacities occurred only three years later when Radović reported a 109m2 apartment.
However, before he “resolved” the housing issue in this way, Radović bought Škoda Fabia vehicle for his family in 2011, which was registered to his then unemployed daughter. During that period, Radović family did not report any savings or a new loan, so it remained unclear in what way purchase of the vehicle worth at least ten thousand Euros was financed.
Over the next two years, Radović saved additional €15,000, of which another Škoda vehicle was purchased in 2014.
Already in 2015, Radović family reported a total savings of €40,500, which is more than the total loan granted for “taking care of“ Radović. It is important to note that the total income of the Radović family for the previous year was just over €36,000, so it is not clear from which sources come these quite significant funds kept as savings.
Since then, Radović’s family savings have increased by an average of €10,000 a year, with the latest property card for 2018 stating it is as much as €58,500.
All of the above, when taken into account the vehicles that were purchased as well, shows that Radović was able to save almost three times the amount he was given as “help”.
MANS
Property in Kolašin as well
After receiving the loan, Radović inherited significant property from his parents in Kolašin, so he also included in the property card a part of the ownership of a 100 square meter house and land of 104,148 m2 in Kolašin.
One Miraš and five commissions
In addition to being a judge of the Supreme Court, Miraš Radović also performs numerous other functions. Last year, Radović’s family budget was also filled by his work at the Bar Examination Commission, the Notarial Examination Commission, the Judges’ Evaluation Council, the Prosecutorial Council Regulatory Commission and the Commission for drafting the Civil Code. In addition to working in numerous commissions, Radović found time to teach at the Judicial Training Centre and the State Prosecutor’s Office.
The public has the right to know
MANS points out that the public has the right to know who has received a loan or an apartment from the state, and in particular under what conditions it has been granted. It is particularly important that this information is made public for judicial office holders due to inarguable sensitivity of their work. Hiding this information opens up a great deal of room for doubt about the motives for giving and taking such loans, as well as potential trade in influence. This is especially in cases where the housing issue of public officials was “resolved“ several times, or when they already had an apartment. MANS has been insisting for a long time that the Government of Montenegro publishes full data on who received the loan or apartment, including decisions adopted before 2016, as it is bound by two decisions of the Administrative Court ordered by the Government’s Housing Commission to immediately disclose the requested information about the loan beneficiaries.
