Centre for Civic Education (CCE) submitted two initiatives to the Managing Board (MB) of UoM for dismissal of the rector Danilo Nikolic, because of the abuse of office and disrespect of the law, more precisely non-execution of the final and executive verdicts within the deadline for execution in cases of Dusan Bugarin and Jelica Stojanovic. Thus, the Rector caused significant material and non-material damage to the UoM as well as to people whose human rights were violated by the UoM, which is proven by these judgments.
CCE reminds that the autonomy of UoM can only be defended by consistent law enforcement and by respecting the legal order of the state of Montenegro and it further obliges to execute court judgments and executive decisions, i.e. open the responsibility regarding dismissal and prosecution of authorities when this is missing.
CCE submitted two complaints to the Agency for Preventing of Corruption (APC) against the rector Nikolić for jeopardizing the public interest. Complaints refer to damage caused in cases of Dusan Bugarin and Jelica Stojanović, who in separated procedures, due to violence of various rights, win cases against UoM, but those verdicts rector did not execute. In one of those, more precisely, in a verdict in favour of Jelica Stojanovic court obliged UoM to pay fines of around 20, 000 EUR because of non-execution of the verdict, and the rector himself, as the one in charge, to pay around 7, 000 EUR.
It is undeniable that authorities of the UoM, first of all, the rector, as well as the President of the MB, were familiar with these cases and that they could prevent damages to UoM. CCE reminds that these two cases and the damage made in court proceedings due to improper and incompetent, possibly corrupted, managing the UoM are not the only ones. Namely, according to available data, from 2015 until the end of 2019, the UoM had paid 524.290,89 EUR for enforced payments and costs of court proceedings, fines and interests. During that period, although the rectors changed, the head of the Management Board was Dusko Bjelica, who should also be held accountable for these omissions. Now, it is clearer why UoM was hiding the data about costs of court proceedings when CCE requested it, and the public has the right to know how it came to these enormous costs which practically are a loss and who is personally responsible for that.
It is of utmost importance that the Management Board terminate such actions of the Rector through dismissal, because otherwise the members of the Management Board can become accomplices in the illegal actions of Rector Nikolic and indirectly the head of the Management Board, Mr Bjelica. Namely, Bjelica had to know and did not prevent these harmful consequences, thus abusing his office by not acting and not prosecuting the rector as the responsible person in these cases.
CCE will continue to analyse managing of the UoM and to point to illegalities of the UoM, because it is the University financed from taxpayers’ money with around 20 million EUR, and thus has the highlighted responsibility towards the public interest.
Snežana Kaluđerović, Senior Legal Advisor