On the day of calling of the elections, the Government decided to increase the salaries of the Director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) and her deputy by a third
We call on the Government to cancel the scandalous decision by which it increased the salaries of the management of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption on the day of calling of the elections.
That Agency is supposed to control how state funds are used in the pre-election period, as well as the enrichment of public officials, including the members of the Government.
At the session held on August 3, 2022, the Government adopted the Decision on amendments to the decision on special allowance, according to which the Article 15 stipulates that “In the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the right to a special allowance in the amount of 30% of the basic salary shall be exercised by the Director and Assistant Director.”
On the same day, August 3, the President of Montenegro called local elections in Podgorica and 13 other municipalities.
Among other things, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption is in charge of controlling the spending of state bodies during the election period.
That is why the Government’s decision to increase the salaries of its officials on the very day of calling of the elections brings them into a classic conflict of interest.
In addition, the Agency is in charge of monitoring changes in the assets of public officials, and therefore members of the Government as well, who decided on the salary of the director of that institution and her deputy.
This is particularly problematic when bearing in mind that for almost five months, the Agency did not decide on the case of a trip to Dubai which the Prime Minister did not report as a gift in his annual report.
On April 7, MANS submitted a report to APC, in which we asked them to determine whether Dritan Abazović had violated the law by not reporting the trip to Dubai that he had received from an unknown person as a gift. Almost half a year later, the Agency has not yet made a decision in that case, and now the salaries of its leaders are being increased by the Government headed by Mr. Abazović.
We believe that the Agency for Prevention of Corruption itself should have reacted and assessed that the Government’s decision represents an inappropriate influence on that institution, as it has done in some cases before. However, since the personal interests of the director of APC and her deputy are at stake, that institution did not make a statement on this issue.
MANS
