The Ministry of the Interior, the Revenue and Customs Administration, the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, and the Ministry of Science and Technological Development are some of the state institutions that during June, when the extraordinary parliamentary elections were held, spent more than planned, i.e. exceeded the monthly spending limit defined by the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
Monthly spending plan of the state budget is determined by the Ministry of Finance at the beginning of the fiscal year, and Article 38 of the Law prohibits budget users from spending more than the prescribed limit during the election campaign.
In June, the Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro spent around ten million euros, which is two million more than the limit prescribed by the law. The analysis of the monthly spending of this ministry shows that the biggest overruns include the payment of net wages, the costs of judicial proceedings, as well as the payment of temporary employment contracts for which the MoI allocated 156 thousand euros during June, which is 120 thousand more than the monthly limit.
In June, the Revenue and Customs Administration spent close to 3.5 million euros, which is two million euros more than the limit prescribed by the Law. Data on the expenses of this institution show that the biggest overrun was achieved for net earnings, for which one million euros more than the limit was spent, while nearly 900 thousand euros more than the monthly budget was allocated for consulting services. The Revenue and Customs Administration also doubled payments based on the temporary employment contracts, thus, a total of 76,000 euros was spent during June.
The Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) spent 1.8 million euros in June, which is around 780 thousand euros more than the legally defined monthly limit. The analysis of spending shows that UIKS doubled the payment of net wages in June, and that 243 thousand euros was spent from the budget line “other”, which is also two times more than the monthly limit. In the same period, UIKS paid 100,000 euros based on the temporary employment contract, while the legal limit was around 52,000.
MANS is going to submit initiatives to the competent Agency for Prevention of Corruption due to the suspicion that state institutions have violated the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns and demand that they be processed without delay.
Unfortunately, these data show that there was a widespread practice of violations of the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns during the last parliamentary elections as well, especially in the part that concerns the possible misuse of state funds.
The continuation of this trend is partly conditioned by an inadequate institutional response and insufficiently developed misdemeanour practice that is supposed to motivate state institutions to harmonize their behaviour with the laws governing the electoral process.
A complete analysis of other budget users is available at this link: https://www.cistakampanja.me/povecanje-potrosnje-u-junu/
MANS
