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MANS earned €149,000 through EU funding

Ilustracija

Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector, MANS, earned €149,000 through EU grant contract, as head of this non-governmental organization, Vanja Ćalović-Marković, committed to submit a specific number of charges for election irregularities in 2016 in order to get this amount of money.

After the parliamentary elections, she filed 2,346 initiatives to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, ASK, for breaching the Law on Financing Political Parties and Election Campaigns, primarily referring to transparency of costs.

The Agency rejected all the initiatives, claiming they were ungrounded.

Vanja Ćalović-Marković had to submit at least three initiatives to the Monitoring Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, that is, at least 20 criminal charges on grounds of political corruption and violation of the Law on Financing Political Parties, as well as at least 30 case studies, which would elaborate the most serious violations of the Law.

The EU Grant contract also stipulated that MANS should have published at least 30 researches on examples of political corruption and violations of the Law on Financing Political Parties by the end of the project. Ms Ćalović-Marković committed to monitor donations given to all political parties involved in the elections, from private sector and individuals as well.

“Therefore, we shall collect all reports and strive to determine whether donors exceeded the sum limitation imposed by the Law,” it is written in the Contract, p.17.

“MANS will file charges to ASK and when collected proofs indicate it’s about criminal offences, this institution will file criminal charges to the prosecutor’s office.”

Vanja Ćalović-Marković is a member of the Council of ASK even though she’s been simultaneously performing duties of executive director of MANS. According to ASK, she was obliged to give a statement on having private interest when it comes to contract implementation, as this topic had been discussed at the Council’s session in her presence.

On 20 April 2017, ASK informed the Council that Vanja Ćalović-Marković hadn’t met necessary requirements to become a member of the Council, as at the moment of application for this position, she didn’t possess 10 years of working experience with the university degree.

 

 

 

 

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