Centre for Civic Education organized today, in the centre of Podgorica, the first in a series of street actions “Prevent or Cure Corruption: Your Call!”, where the promo material that indicates harmful effects of corruption on society, as well as forms of corruption and associated illegal activities, were given to the citizens.
During this action, citizens had the opportunity to be informed about different forms of corruption and illegal activities which they can report to the Administration for Inspection Affairs, while at the stand they could fill in the application anonymously and put it into the box for collection of applications. The attention of citizens was directed to some forms of irregularities that they could report to the inspection bodies, such as illegal construction, work without a contract, sale of goods after expiry date or of a suspicious origin, sale of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes to the minors, not issuing fiscal accounts etc. Also, citizens were encouraged to report irregularities in work of inspectors, such as failure to act on application, bribe-taking, failure to undertake measures or selective control, etc. The action was attended by many interested citizens while CCE activists distributed hundreds of leaflets and collected dozens of applications from citizens. Also, representatives of U.S. Embassy in Montenegro and Administration for Inspection Affairs took part in the action.
The project envisages 5 more similar street actions to be held, while within the same project CCE previously launched the SOS line for reporting corruption to inspection bodies through which citizens, as well as legal entities, can report to CCE directly concrete examples of corruptive actions from the field of operation of inspection bodies. That line is an added value to the already existing SOS line of the Administration for Inspection Affairs, as well as possibility for those citizens who have more confidence in NGO sector than in the institutions, to report cases of corruption and other illegal activities.
The action is part of the project “Through the inspection against the corruption!”, which is implemented through the Criminal Justice Civil Support Program (CJCSP) and funded by U.S. Embassy in Podgorica, State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
Overall objective of the project “Through the inspection against the corruption!” is to contribute to the increase of public trust in the criminal justice sector through implementation of effective watchdog activities to track the government responses to reports of illegal activities and corruption. Specific objective of the project is to monitor the activities and enhance capacities of the Administration for Inspection Affairs and Inspection units as the first and citizens’ closest instrument to tackle corruption and misconduct in public institutions in Montenegro.
Svetlana Pešić, Programme Associate