After latest information on suspicious donations for the election campaigns of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), there is very little room for doubt whether there is a very organized system for inserting cash of unknown origin into the official finances of that party. In the coming days, MANS will submit all collected evidence to the Chief Special Prosecutor, Milivoje Katnić, who is running out of excuses to continue to refuse to finally invite the head of DPS, Milo Đukanović, to the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Photo: Savo Prelević/Vijesti
After MANS uncovered a scheme of fake donations from residents of Vrela Ribnička, one of the poorest settlements in Podgorica, through which DPS raised €30,000 ahead of parliamentary elections, Katnić announced that the entire case would be investigated. Two years after that, the citizens have not yet been informed of the result of that investigation, and no one knows the origin of the money that was paid into the DPS election account on behalf of the residents of this settlement.
MANS then also warned of the fact that party officials were used in order to fake donations, and the latest data show that DPS most likely had its operatives among employees in Podgorica’s public companies.
Everything described indicates the existence of an organized criminal group, and a well-developed money laundering system whose origins are still unknown to the public.
That DPS uses so-called “black funds” to finance its campaigns was additionally confirmed through the “Envelope” affair, where we learned that part of the money that this party uses to stay in power comes from Montenegrin tycoons.
This fact was confirmed by Milo Đukanović himself when he said that there were funds that the party received during the election campaigns, that they were “registered in the party”, and that “the reports in the form those institutions requested” were submitted to the competent authorities.
Despite this open confession that DPS is financed with funds that have not been officially recorded, Special Prosecutor Katnić has not yet found it necessary to examine in more detail serious suspicions that money laundering is being carried out through DPS election campaigns, which enables illegal political influence on voters.
This attitude of the State Prosecutor’s Office towards the already disclosed evidence leads to new suspicions about the existence of such money laundering schemes, and by not prosecuting key actors, the message is sent that political corruption in Montenegro pays off.
This is particularly important in the context of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, which Montenegro once again enters under the mortgage of unresolved political corruption scandals.
Transparency in funding of political parties is imperative, especially in the election period, and the consequences of political corruption can be far-reaching and detrimental to society as a whole. Therefore, we believe that even such State Prosecutor’s Office must no longer ignore concrete evidence and well-founded suspicions of political corruption and money laundering.
MANS
