Investigative Centre of the NGO MANS obtained new data that deepen the suspicion that the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) is again using the established scheme to insert cash into its official finances through alleged donations from natural persons.
Fire Department Danilovgrad
On the same day, employees of the Fire Department of the Municipality of Danilovgrad organized and paid € 16,000 for the needs of this year’s DPS’ election campaign. The smallest donation was € 500, while some firefighters allocated up to €1,500 to help the ruling party, according to data analysed by MANS.
Goran Radulović, chief of the fire service, confirmed to MANS that “as a member and activist of DPS since its establishment, he donated € 1,500 to DPS for the needs of the campaign for 2020 parliamentary elections.” Radulović’s property card states that his salary last year was €1,200, while in January this year he received €1,530.
Goran Radulović, chief of the Fire Department Danilovgrad
According to the Trade Union of Administration and Justice of Montenegro, firefighters have an average monthly salary of €550, which was not an obstacle for the firefighters from Danilovgrad to donate amounts between € 1,000 and € 1,500.
All donations of firefighters from Danilovgrad were paid on the same day, July 7 this year, which is the mechanism through which their colleagues from Podgorica also supported DPS’ campaign in 2016.
Additional suspicion that this is an organized scheme for inserting money of unknown origin into DPS’ election campaign is caused by the fact that members of municipal boards from Bijelo Polje, Berane, Petnjica and Šavnik paid their donations on specific days, and often in amounts exceeding their monthly earnings.
Thus, five members of the municipal board of DPS from Bijelo Polje, including the president of that municipality, Petar Smolović, and the president of the Municipal Assembly, Abaz Dizdarević, paid a total of €4,500. Apart from them, Emin and Hajro Kajević from Bijelo Polje also paid donations to the party, €3,500 in total. All donations of members and activists from Bijelo Polje were paid on the same day, July 17, 2020.
The day before, the campaign was supported by six members of the municipal board of DPS from Berane, in the total amount of €2,480. The party was also supported by the municipal board from Petnjica, from where five donations were paid on July 16th – in the total amount of € 1,400.
Although Šavnik is one of the poorest Montenegrin municipalities, DPS officials have shown devotion to their party by donating entire monthly salaries to help the election campaign. Jugoslav Jakić, the president of the Assembly of the Municipality of Šavnik, paid one thousand Euros for the party, although his salary last year was between €800 and €950.
Milijana Ašanin, chief administrator of the Municipality of Šavnik, donated almost her entire salary, while councillor Sanja Bušaj, despite her monthly income of € 800, allocated as much as one thousand for the party. DPS was also supported by Vaska Zorić, who paid €500 euros, while her salary as director of the Šavnik Tourist Organization was € 565 last year. Four of the five members of the municipal board from Šavnik paid donation on the same day, July 10, 2020.
Lazar Grdinić
Officials from Žabljak generous when it comes to local elections
In addition to parliamentary elections, DPS is collecting money for the local elections as well, thus, five members of the party’s municipal board from Žabljak have paid €7,500 for that purpose so far. Apart from Veselin Vukićević, the President of the Municipality, Mile Leković and Vidoje Tomčić also paid €2,000, while Tomo Pajović with €1,000 and Stanija Grbović with €500 were somewhat “more modest”.
Leković, as the secretary of the municipality of Žabljak, earned less than €1,000 a month last year, while Tomčić, as the chairman of the assembly of the municipality of Zabljak, had a salary of €1,250. Tomo Pajović, as the director of the National Park “Durmitor”, had a salary of less than €750 per month.
Evidence of money laundering under the auspices of the campaign is multiplying
MANS Investigative Centre has thus revealed another example of an organized scheme for inserting cash into the current election campaign, while the state authorities, primarily the State Prosecutor’s Office remain silent on the obvious example of money laundering under the auspices of the elections. After it was revealed that the campaign for the last parliamentary elections was allegedly financed by Roma people from Vrela Ribnička, social cases from Berane, workers from Podgorica’s Public Utility Company “Čistoća” and water supply company “Vodovod”, Podgorica’s firefighters and several members of the municipal and main party boards, who paid money mostly on the same day and in the same bank, it is evident that this practice continues in these elections without any reaction from the authorities.
Such practice now seriously discredits the upcoming elections, because one party is consciously and deliberately left with space to finance its campaign from funds of unknown origin, along with other illegitimate methods by which DPS gains an advantage over other participants in the election process.
