Last year’s flight of the President Milo Đukanović to Paris by the state plane remains a secret for the citizens of Montenegro, now thanks to the decision of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) signed by its director, Jelena Perović.
Fully trusting Đukanović’s statement that the reason for using the state plane was “meetings with a certain degree of secrecy”, APC determined that the President of Montenegro did not violate the Law on Prevention of Corruption, without examining additional evidence.
At the end of 2019, Đukanović used the state-owned Lear Jet, license plates 4O-MNE, on a flight to Paris, from where he continued his journey to Miami, where he spent the New Year’s holidays. Upon his return from Miami, the state plane was sent again from Podgorica to Paris in order for Đukanović to return to Montenegro.
In its decision, APC also refers to the decision of the Special State Prosecutor (SSP) on the rejection of the criminal report that MANS filed against Đukanović at the beginning of last year. SPP’s decision only states that the Secretariat-General of the Government of Montenegro issued an approval for the use of the state plane and cites the legal provisions governing the use of that aircraft, without checking whether the allegations that the flight to Paris was really for official purposes were true.
All these facts were not the subject of attention of the director of APC, Jelena Perović, whose decisions continue the practice of her predecessor, which aims to absolutely protect Đukanović from any legal prosecution.
Director of APC, Jelena Perović
This is evidenced by the fact that MANS filed the report with APC against Đukanović in February last year, while Perović made a decision almost a year later, acting “ex officio”, as stated in the decision.
It is an absolute untruth and an attempt to create the illusion that this body is independent and autonomous in its work, while unfortunately, even with the new director, it continues to be one of the obstacles to a sustainable fight against corruption and conflict of interests.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the Investigative Centre
MANS
