Electoral list “Budva, our city – Nikola Jovanović” received a donation worth 1,000 euros from a legal entity that has an active contractual relationship with the Municipality of Budva, which represents a violation of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
The donation for this electoral list was provided in the form of a service by the company “Mediteran Express” from Budva, which is registered for performing activities of urban and suburban passenger transportation.
In Article 33, paragraph 5, the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns prescribes that “legal entities, companies and entrepreneurs and related natural persons which, based on a contract with the competent bodies and in accordance with the Law, performed activities of public interest or concluded a contract through the public procurement procedure, in the period of two years preceding the conclusion of the contract, for the duration of the business relationship, as well as two years after the termination of the business relationship shall not give contributions to the political entities.”
In April last year, the Assembly of the Municipality of Budva passed the Decision on granting consent to the company “Mediteran Express” for prolongation of the activity of transporting passengers, students and pensioners in regular, urban and suburban transport. The decision was signed by Nikola Jovanović, the Chairperson of the Municipal Assembly, and the holder of the “Budva, our city” list, which received the donation by the company during the just finished elections in Budva.
The decision adopted by the Assembly, and signed by Nikola Jovanović, enabled the company to continue its passenger transportation activities until the end of the Competition for the allocation of passenger transportation lines, and no later than December 31 of last year, as stated in the decision.
Nevertheless, on December 29, 2023, the Assembly adopted a new decision that extended the aforementioned consent until the end of the Competition for the allocation of lines.
The information about this business shows that at the end of 2018, the Municipality of Budva concluded an agreement with the owners of the “Mediteran Express” company on the allocation of lines for public transport in the urban and suburban traffic, and at the beginning of 2019, it concluded another contract related to the transportation of students and pensioners.
During last year, this company generated income of around two million euros, while the net amount was around 140 thousand euros.
The company “Mediteran Express” is owned by the Dokić brothers from Budva whose mother, Jasna Dokić, was the head of several public companies in Budva for a long time, and at the end of March this year, she was appointed Vice-Chairperson of the Municipality of Budva.
In addition to the company, the Dokić family also supported the electoral list of Nikola Jovanović personally, thus, the report on contributions to the campaign states Jasna Dokić’s donation in the form of a service, with a total value of 500 euros.
The Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns prescribes a fine for violation of the Article 33, which refers to the prohibition of financing, through the payment of a misdemeanour fine for a natural person in the amount ranging from 500 to 2,000 euros.
MANS submitted the complete documentation obtained by investigating donations to the competent Agency for Prevention of Corruption, with the initiative to open proceeding for determining violations of the Law.
MANS
