Centre for Civic Education (CCE), on this day two years ago, filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SSPO) against NN who worked at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports in 2021, responsible for numerous violations of laws and procedures in managing a budget of €219,193,714.26. This was confirmed by the State Audit Institution (SAI), the highest public finance oversight body, through a double negative opinion on the Ministry’s operations for 2021. Unfortunately, the SSPO has not progressed beyond the initial investigation phase in this fairly clear case, and the CCE has no information on whether Vesna Bratić, who led the Ministry at the time, has ever been summoned by the SSPO to respond to the allegations in the criminal complaint.
We remind that the SAI, through its financial audit, determined that the financial report of this body does not provide a true and fair view of the reported revenues and expenditures in accordance with the accepted framework for public sector financial reporting. The errors identified in the financial report have a material and pervasive effect on the financial statement. Furthermore, the audit of the Ministry’s compliance with regulations revealed numerous discrepancies, such as violations of the 2021 Budget Law, Labor Law, State Property Law, Law on Public Sector Management and Internal Controls, Treasury Regulations, and secondary legislation governing public procurement and the use of official vehicles. These discrepancies also have a material and pervasive effect on the financial statement.
Among other findings, the SAI identified:
- Public procurement was not conducted in accordance with the law;
- Expenditures amounting to €7,629,540.25, related to transfers from the Ministry’s account to public institution accounts, were not recorded in accordance with regulations, where for €3,808,290.83, there is no required documentation or basis for the expenditures requested, and for €3,821,249.42, the auditors found no basis for the disbursement of funds in the existing documentation;
- Contrary to the law, revenue and expenditure plans for self-generated income of public institutions, totaling €19,139,915, were not submitted to the competent authorities;
- For more than 50% of the employees covered by the audit, there were discrepancies between the length of service in salary decisions (which were the basis for salary increases) and the data from their employment records. Additionally, some supplementary employment contracts were illegal;
- Payments of €236,426.10 for dual education contracts with employers were made without the required documentation;
- Of the €2,405,135.63 in service expenses covered by the audit sample, €1,454,215.40 was not supported by the required documentation;
- The majority of consultancy service contracts lacked a legal basis or proof of work performed by the hired individuals (the total for these services exceeded €3.5 million). Payments to some commissions were made without the legally required documentation.
At the time of submitting this criminal complaint, the CCE noted the SSPO’s active approach to addressing illegal activities, often reacting quickly to media reports, even when not accompanied by documentation. However, this agility has been absent in relation to this complaint and the individuals involved, raising concerns that selective prosecution by the prosecutor’s office remains an issue.
Over the past two years, the CCE has submitted several additions to the criminal complaint to assist the Prosecutor’s Office in serving the public interest, to the best of our ability. We have also submitted numerous inquiries and follow-ups to learn whether the Prosecutor’s Office is taking any action in this case, as there is no reason for this well-documented complaint to remain in the Prosecutor’s Office drawer.
Finally, our suspicion that there is a lack of professionalism in handling this case was confirmed by the Prosecutorial Council. In its session held on 14 March 2024, the Prosecutorial Council unanimously determined that Special Prosecutor Nataša Bošković had not acted in accordance with the law in processing this criminal complaint.
In the most recent response, we received from the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office in June 2024, they indicated that intensive work on this case was underway and that a decision would be made soon. However, as of today, there are no publicly available updates indicating any progress by the SSPO on this complaint.
The CCE believes that the public deserves to know the reasons why the SSPO is not acting efficiently in this case, where there is a wealth of indisputable documentation. The fact that the illegal activities have been confirmed by the SAI should have been of significant help to the SSPO, especially given that the SSPO has acted quickly on the findings of lower-ranking oversight institutions in the past.
Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director