The appointment of Mladen Mikijelj, current Secretary for Investments of the Municipality of Budva, as the new director of the Public Enterprise for Coastal Zone Management (JP Morsko dobro) shows that the Government of Montenegro has once again allowed compromises between politics and profession that have always resulted in damage to the public interest.
Mladen Mikijelj was the secretary for investments at a time when the company “Asfalt-beton gradnja” got tenders worth millions from the Municipality of Budva for asphalting the streets, and Marko Carević’s company “Carinvest” performed works as a covert subcontractor, which Carević himself publicly admitted.
Mikijelj’s duty was to prepare investment plans and data for the tender documentation, but also to monitor the implementation of contracts in which the Municipality of Budva was the investor. From that position, Mikiljelj had full information on how the company of his municipal and party colleague, Carević, was involved in the asphalting business, although it was not an official participant in the tender.
In this regard, Mikijelj had to be acquainted with the fact that Carević, when signing the contract with “Asfalt-beton gradnja”, stated that he was not in a conflict of interests, while at the same time, his company’s equipment was performing works in the field contract after contract.
Mikijelj had the opportunity to see that Carević’s machines are on the construction sites paid for from the municipal treasury during numerous visits that he made together with the president of the municipality, Marko Carević.
Remaining silent on all these illegalities qualified Mikijelj as Carević’s associate in those matters, for reasons that should have been determined by the State Prosecutor’s Office. As is well known, in the midst of last year’s political crisis, the State Prosecutor’s Office decided to quickly open the “Asfalt-beton” case and close it even faster, without finding any responsibility of Carević and Mikijelj for what is a classic example of conflict of interests aimed at personal enrichment to the detriment of the budget of the Municipality of Budva.
After all that, the Government of Montenegro now expects the staff like Mikijelj to bring order to the corruption and lawlessness of the destroyed JP Morsko dobro, and that this staff shift will mark the break with the previous practice that existed in that public enterprise.
It is especially problematic that Mikijelj was proposed for this position by the new Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Ratko Mitrović, who, after his appointment, promised there would be more order and laws in the sector of spatial planning and management of state resources.
Apart from the decision on appointment, signed by the Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, there is no detailed information from the Montenegrin government about the decision that Mikijelj is the best option for the position, especially bearing in mind the current situation and corruption scandals that are shaking JP Morsko dobro.
Such manner of employment, whether political or clientelistic, was characteristic of the thirty-year rule of the previous regime. The Government of Montenegro and the Prime Minister made a promise to put an end to such practice, which has so far been only empty words.
Coastal zone management, as one of the particularly valuable resources of Montenegro, is particularly vulnerable to corruption, as evidenced by everything that has happened in the area in the past thirty years.
The termination of such relation requires a serious approach and must not be conditioned by political influence or any other relation that one may have with the Government of Montenegro or the Prime Minister himself.
Unfortunately, the appointment of Mikijelj to the position of director of JP Morsko dobro shows that the Government of Montenegro and the Prime Minister are not ready to resist the political influence that may result in the continuation of wrong practices and a significant slowdown in reforms in key areas.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the MANS Investigative Centre
