The decision of the Secretariat-General of the Government of Montenegro to mark classified the information on who and for what purposes used the state aircraft during December last year and January this year is an obvious attempt to hide information from the public that could indicate a violation of the law and corruption.
The Secretariat-General withheld the information on who and under what conditions had used the government aircraft on the pretext that the disclosure of that information would endanger the security of protected persons on their journey. This reason would be justified if the Cabinet of the President did not regularly publish very detailed information, photos and videos of Milo Đukanović’s official visits, which involve the use of both the official Mercedes Maybach and the state aircraft.
Since the beginning of his term, no official visit of Đukanović took place without prior notice to the media, and was accompanied by extensive media coverage and the activity of his cabinet on social media. President Đukanović’s first trip for which Montenegro’s public did not learn, and of which no official information is available, is precisely that to Paris, i.e. supposedly further to Miami.
Of course, the president of the state, like all other citizens, has the right to private trips, outside the official state protocol, but he also has no right to use the state aircraft for this type of trip.
That there are serious suspicions that the government aircraft was used for private purposes is confirmed by the photos made by MANS’ investigators at the Golubovci airport, where Đukanović’s official Mercedes Maybach was waiting for passengers from the flight from Paris.
This is why the Secretariat-General is hiding information about who was on the flight on January 10 this year, declaring that information confidential.
The Secretary General of the Government, Nataša Pešić, made a decision last year to declare confidential all information, even those on flights of the state aircraft that are about to happen in the future.
This decision was made in March last year, after MANS published investigative story dealing with unreported flight of the government aircraft to Palma de Mallorca, which was justified by the Prime Minister Duško Marković’s visit to Iberostar. Like Đukanović’s, Prime Minister Marković’s flight was also not announced as it is the case when it comes to official visits.
We are fully convinced that these and similar decisions made by the Government of Montenegro when it comes to free access to information are intended only to cover up the violation of the law by the highest state officials, but also to make the investigative work of the civil sector and the media more difficult.
This practice is in complete contradiction with the good EU practice, and directly opposes all recommendations received by Montenegro since the beginning of the European integration process, in which the Government of Montenegro is continuously warned about the prevailing trend of withholding information of public importance.
Documentation that can prove that the President abused his office is certainly information of public importance, and MANS will continue to request before the judicial authorities publishing of both this and any other information that is intentionally concealed in order to protect one’s private interests.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the MANS Investigative Centre
