It took more than three months for the High Court from Podgorica to submit a final judgement in “Vardar” case to the Ministry of Justice in order for it to be entered into criminal records kept by the Ministry. This enabled Ivica Tošković, the owner of the construction company “Toškovići”, to get a job from the Public Works Administration worth € 1.3 million, despite the final judgement in “Vardar” case.
Ivica Tošković, owner of the company “Toškovići”
The Law on Public Procurement also prescribes that one of the conditions for participation in state tenders is that the participant had not been convicted of criminal offenses with elements of corruption and organized crime. Thus, on January 31, 2020, the Ministry of Justice, despite the fact that there was a final judgement at that time, issued a certificate of non-conviction to Tošković, which he submitted to the tender of the Public Works Administration for construction of a recycling yard in Berane.
Answering the question of the MANS Investigative Centre how it is possible that a convict was issued a certificate of non-conviction, Director General of the Directorate for Execution of Criminal Sanctions at the Ministry of Justice, Nataša Radonjić, who signed the disputed certificate, said that at the time the certificate was issued, the Ministry was not in possession of the judgement for Tošković:
– “Certificate issued on 31.01.2020 for Ivica Tošković was issued on the basis of the state of data in the electronic database which, on the day of issuing the certificate, were in accordance with the Decree on the manner of keeping criminal records. The information on the conviction according to the judgment of the High Court in Podgorica KVS No. 157/19 was submitted to the Ministry of Justice by the Court on 10.02.2020.”
In April last year, Tošković signed a plea agreement with the State Prosecutor’s Office, which was confirmed by the final judgement on November 1. As a member of a group that defrauded the state budget by € 3.7 million, Tošković was convicted of creating a criminal organization and evasion of taxes and contributions. According to the data of the Police Administration, and based on the information of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, this criminal group extracted the profit gained from the companies’ operations on the basis of fictitious business relations and costs (invoices), which were then returned to the owners in cash.
After winning the public tender, Tošković signed a contract worth € 1.3 million with the director of the Public Works Administration, Rešad Nuhodžić. According to the contract, he is going to be paid up to € 700 thousand this year, while the rest will be paid next year.
Public Works Administration told MANS that they did not perform additional checks of the documentation submitted to the tender by Tošković:
– “The Commission for Opening and Evaluation of Bids reviews and evaluates the correctness of a bid on the basis of evidence issued by the competent institutions, and has no authority to verify the validity and authenticity of official documents issued by the institution responsible for their issuance.”
The Capital City Podgorica, which awarded the company “Toškovići” several contracts worth millions after its owner was convicted, provided similar interpretation of its powers in the tender procedure. However, the Law on Public Procurement enables the contracting authority, in this case the Public Works Administration, to additionally check the correctness of the documentation submitted by Ivica Tošković as part of his bid, as well as the certificate of non-conviction, in accordance with Article 112.
MANS warns of serious shortcomings in the implementation of public procurement procedures, which, as in the case of the Capital City and the Public Works Administration, result in jobs worth millions being awarded to persons convicted of serious crimes, which is explicitly prohibited by the Law on Public Procurement:
– The information that Ivica Tošković was convicted was publicly available, not only to the state institutions that concluded lucrative contracts with him, but also to the Ministry of Justice, which issued a certificate of non-conviction to him, which was used to apply for tenders. Acting in the public interest required checking the data on Ivica Tošković, both by the Ministry itself, as well as in the Public Works Administration and the Capital City, which did not happen. It is not difficult to conclude that here we are dealing with an abuse of formal procedures that has resulted in us practically rewarding those who broke the law. The punishment prescribed by the High Court in the final judgement is thus negligible compared to the profit that Tošković will earn by doing business with the state, Dejan Milovac, director of the MANS Investigative Centre pointed out.
Apart from the suspended prison sentence, Ivica Tošković was also sentenced to pay a fine in the amount of € 40 thousand, with the obligation to return additional € 140 thousand to the state budget. After such judgement, Tošković signed several contracts with state authorities, with a total value of close to € 3.5 million.
Lazar Grdinić
