Centre for Civic Education (CCE) submitted today an initiative to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (APC) to determine the existence of conflicts of interest for those individuals appointed to working bodies and councils, in accordance with the Law on the Prevention of Corruption as public officials, who simultaneously have service contracts with companies or legal entities owned by the state.
The CCE points to the prohibition under Article 16 of the new Law, which prescribes restrictions regarding service contracts and business cooperation. In this context, the CCE requested that the APC specifically examine the current existence of conflicts of interest in bodies/councils such as the Prosecutorial Council, the Judicial Council, the APC Council, the RTCG Council, and the State Election Commission (SEC), and issue appropriate decisions.
We remind that the APC recently issued an opinion, upon the personal request of one official, correctly interpreting the restrictions imposed by Article 16 of the new Law. Hence, it is logical, expected, and also a matter of the APC’s integrity, that they proceed similarly in other such cases.
The CCE also requested that the APC issue a unified opinion on this matter to prevent risk of corrupt practices. Clearly, the new Law on the Prevention of Corruption recognizes conflicts of interest for individuals who, during their tenure as public officials through membership in working bodies and councils, appointed by the Parliament or the Government, have signed service contracts with companies or legal entities owned by the state.
This means that individuals in these bodies as public officials cannot represent any state body or public institution, or state-owned institutions, during their public office term. Otherwise, according to Article 16, Paragraph 4, any service contracts concluded with companies or legal entities owned by the state would be considered null and void.
The CCE believes that it is not in the public interest for those who violate the provisions of the Law to continue serving as public officials. This requires proactive action from the APC, especially in light of the lack of resignations from those public officeholders who fail to adhere to the legal restrictions governing public office.
Snežana Kaluđerović, Senior Legal Advisor