Abazović and Ćalović at the press conference: Government granted apartments and loans to judges, prosecutors contrary to the Law

The National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption organised a press conference regarding allocation of apartments and loans to public officials. "Judges and prosecutors were given apartments and loans by the Government contrary to the Law on Maintenance of Residential Buildings, and the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corrupution collected information on the distribution of about 25 million euros in loans to about 175 officials and 405 civil servants and employees," it was noted at the press conference.

Head of the expert team of the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption Vanja Ćalović Marković said that they collected data from the Secretariat General of the Government, the Protector of Property and Legal Interest and the notaries (51 replied, eight did not), while additional sources were the Notary Chamber, courts, the Property Administration, the Cadastre, the Tax Administration, the Ministry of Finance and the State Archives.

"So far, we have collected information on the distribution of about 25 million euros in loans, about 20 thousand square meters of housing in the last ten years and 4.6 million euros in loans in the last three years. We are talking about 580 people, who received apartments or loans, of which at least 175 are officials and 405 are civil servants and employees," said Ćalović Marković.

She explained that the allocation of loans and apartments is done in accordance with the Decision on the manner and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials, which specifies the criteria for solving the housing needs of officials.

"Resolving the housing needs of officials is done according to the following criteria: the importance of jobs and the existing housing situation. Article 30 of the Decision stipulates that the Commission, with the consent of the Government, may address the housing needs of individual officials without notice. There has almost never or never been notice for the distribution of apartments to officials," Ćalović Marković stressed.

She said that Article 30a has been introduced since March 2016, stating that all decisions made after that date are based on that article because it abolishes all other criteria and decisions.

"This article says that an apartment or a loan can be obtained by a person who achieves exceptional results in performing work of special interest to the state. This Decision is based on the articles of the Law on Maintenance of Residential Buildings. The law explicitly states that the procedure, manner and criteria for resolving the housing needs of judges, state prosecutors and judges of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro are determined by an act of the Judicial Council, the Prosecutorial Council and the Constitutional Court of Montenegro," Ćalović Marković explained.

She presented several cases of officials who received apartments and loans. Among them are Vesna Medenica, Blažo Jovanić, Branka Lakočević, Dragoljub Drašković, Desanka Lopičić, Mevlida Muratović, Saša Čađenović, Veselin Vučković, Lidija Vukčević, Branislav Mićunović, Damir Šehović and Zoran Pažin.

"The National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption determined that the Government gave apartments and loans to judges, prosecutors and judges of the Constitutional Court contrary to the Law on Maintenance of Residential Buildings. Key people in the judiciary participated and benefited from the violation of the law," Ćalović Marković said.

She pointed out that apartments and loans were given to many officials contrary to the criteria of the Government Decision, and that the alleged market prices of apartments were significantly below the real ones, "while the prices of apartments that officials changed were inflated".

"We recommend the Council and the Government to hire legal experts to determine how to return the money to the budget," Ćalović Marković said.

She pointed out that after the elections, the caretaker government decided to allocate another 119 apartments.

Ćalović Marković said that they would continue to collect data, which would be gradually published to the public.

Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said that he is not against humane approach, but that apartments should be given to people who are really in need.

He said that Ms. Ćalović Marković showed us example of classic corruption, adding that it is devastating and that it speaks of politicization and total unprofessionalism, and that he will try to fight against such manifestations in all possible ways and to eliminate these phenomena as much as possible.

"This is just one segment related to apartments. Members of the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption are also working on other, perhaps more complex, issues. We will try to show all our work in a transparent way, to present information of public importance to citizens, to see where our money went, why Montenegro is in this economic situation today," said Abazović.

He said that the ambition of the Government is to protect the state budget and that there will be no additional costs beyond the operating costs, which already exist in order to maintain the system.