Centre for Civic Education (CCE) received, a few days ago, the two more decisions from the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) which determined that the MPs of the former ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Nikola Rakočević and Jovanka Laličić, violated the Law on Prevention of Corruption due to non-reporting of accurate, complete and precise data in the reports on income and property for 2017.
In mid-May 2018, the CCE submitted the Initiative requesting the establishment of misdemeanor liability for the 25 MPs of the former ruling majority due to non-reporting of accurate, complete and precise data in the reports on income and property for 2017. Over the past 30 months, since the submission of the Initiative, the CCE has sent dozens of requests to the director and the Council of the APC.
The CCE received the first decisions of the APC only on 31 August 2020, and the APC has so far made decisions in 23 of the 25 cases of MPs covered by the Initiative.
More specifically, acting on the request of the CCE, APC determined the violation of the Law on Prevention of Corruption by 16 deputies of the then convocation – Branimir Gvozdenovića, Obrad Stanišića, Danijel Živković, Mirsad Mulić, Maja Bakrač, Nikola Rakočević, Jovanka Laličić, Radule Novović, Ervin Ibrahimović, Ana Nikolić, Bogdan Fatić, Filip Vuković, Genci Nimanbegu, Momčilo Martinović, Petar Smolović, and Željko Aprcović.
Additionally, APC determined that 7 deputies of the then convocation did not violate the Law, i.e. that Mićo Orlandić, Milorad Vuletić, Miodrag Radunović, Nedžad Drešević, Branko Čavor, Andrija Popović and Adrijan Vuksanović reported all income in their property records for 2017, although even these property records were not accurate and complete in parts addressed by the CCE Initiative.
APC has not yet made decisions in the cases of the MPs of the DPS – Andrija Nikolić and Predrag Sekulić.
CCE points out that due to the incredibly long delay in decision-making, APC’s decisions that determined a violation of the Law by 16 former and current deputies do not have the effect stipulated by the Law. Namely, in the meantime, the execution of legal sanctions has become obsolete.
Nevertheless, these APC’s decisions are valuable because they prove that the reporting by certain media on this issue, as well as the CCE Initiative, were well-founded. Also, the attitude towards this CCE’s Initiative reflects the captivity of the APC, which was not allowed to decide on one simple case for more than two years, thereby collapsing itself as an institution. The CCE emphasizes the importance of non-selectivity and in the work of the APC to achieve the purpose of that institution and expresses the hope that APC will no longer keep reports in drawers for years to protect any public official.
Snežana Kaluđerović, Senior Legal Advisor