CORRUPTION AS A NATIONAL PROJECT
Montenegro:Marijana Kadic (AIM Podgorica)
"Montenegrin self-financing" -- this is how then Montenegrin premier Milo Djukanovic branded the manner of filling the state coffers with proceeds from "transit deals" at the beginning of the 1990s. It was practically the only way for a country under international sanctions to provide for its population's survival, but also for the survival of the politicians in power as well. Operation Survival began with the "transit" of oil and oil derivatives from Albania via Lake Scutari. Almost everything else followed: various commodities, cigarettes... Thus, corruption, stemming from irregular business conditions and the efforts of a country and individuals to survive, became an everyday practice in all segments of life.
According to a survey done by the Podgorica-based Center for Transition, Montenegrins view corruption as one of the major social problems, political instability being at the top of the list. But only in the several last years has corruption become a public issue. The first to bring it up it were opposition parties, which accused the Democratic Party of Socialists in the national Legislature of maintaining its decade-long rule by corruption. Several non-government organization followed suit, by conducting surveys on its extent. The state reacted only last year, by forming an Anti-Corruption Initiative Agency. But a unified front to fight corruption has not been created yet.
"Corruption is not only a result of difficult social circumstances, low standards of living, isolation, wars, etc. It was a carefully prepared and executed project. The ruling oligarchy succeeded in making it into a state policy and a national project of utmost importance," says Nebojsa Medojevic, director of the Center for Transition. This is to say that main protagonists of "big corruption" are mostly public officials, who use their public office for personal gain.
During the past several years Montenegro has been shaken by scandals related to various privatization deals. Privatization contracts involving major Montenegrin companies came under fire after irregularities surfaced. In most instances, certain provisions of the contracts were in violation of the law, but in accordance with someone's personal interests. Thus some of those contracts, later determined as being detrimental to public interests, were signed by the highest state officials and company managers. "In order to privatize a company, one does not need money. One only has to have good connections to obtain it for nothing. This is the best description of Montenegrin privatization," Medojevic claims.
Even the first privatization contracts raised suspicions that the government and company officials involved in them were corrupt. A good example was a management contract for the Podgorica-based aluminum factory, that was taken over by the Swiss Glencore. It included a host of irregularities such as non-transparency, unnaturally brief and secret negotiations, documentation that was hidden from the public eye under the guise of "business secrets"... The same was the case with privatization of tourism facilities, accompanied by one scandal after another. Montenegro's hotels, whose sale is expected to yield the most, for some reason have not yet been put up for sale. Two years after their privatization began under the auspices of a U.S. team of advisors, nothing except a series of scandals has happened.
Although government officials and people close to them are believed to be linked to various corruption scandals, no corruption trials have yet been held. Even when the notorious "tobacco scandal" reached the public, nothing actually came of it. Croatia's Nacional magazine carried a series of articles on cigarette smuggling via Montenegro, including intelligence data implicating top Montenegro's officials (including Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic). According to the paper, many state officials earned millions of German marks just by providing logistic support to smugglers.
According to many, the customs service is the most corrupt sector. This comes as no surprise, particularly since it is well known that Montenegro has for years been exposed to blockades and that the transfer of goods over the borders was heavily "taxed." All sanctions, from international sanctions, imposed at the time the Montenegrin government was on good terms with the Milosevic regime, to unofficial ones, imposed by the government in Serbia against the "disobedient" Montenegro, only boosted corruption. Second on the corruption list are top Montenegro officials. They are followed by the media, which the people consider not only corrupt, but as the very source of corruption, blaming them for supporting and creating a climate in which corruption flourishes. Among the most corrupt are also financial police and regular police, and, according to a public opinion poll, the Montenegrin government's Council for Privatization, which is perceived as a corrupt institution.
A recent debate in the U.S. Congress has confirmed that corruption and illegal deals reach far beyond the borders of this Yugoslav republic. Namely, U.S. congressmen talked about off-shore banks in Montenegro, in which one of the largest U.S. financial institutions, Citibank, launders money. The Russians followed suit by claiming that large sums of money originating in Russia were also laundered in Montenegro. Such operations are being done in Montenegro's off-shore banks, which many Montenegrin jurists say were created illegally.
Through company managing boards politicians are able to directly control finances and strategic contracts. Managers of state-run companies are almost without exception members of political parties and are acting on orders from the government. This is why it frequently occurs that a company's director, after sucking it dry, buys it together with his "sponsors" from the government at a rock bottom price.
There are no signs that the government in Montenegro actually plans to do something to curb and punish corruption. An indeed, how would this be possible in the first place, when the same people that profited thanks to corruption are now calling for action against it?