Property of Montenegrin Officials

Silence - For Fear or Forgetfulness

Although prescribed by an assembly recommendation, why was property submitted for control only by members of Bulatovic's SNP and Rakcevic's SDP. Now many in Montenegro can make speculations about truthfulness of accusations of numerous abuses and illegal acquisition of wealth of certain state (federal, republican, municipal) and party officials

AIM Podgorica, 11 February, 1999

Statements of political parties in which they exchange mutual accusations of abuse of power and illegal acquisition of wealth, remind the Montenegrin public almost every day that the competition for the richest state or party official is still open. The question of property of persons in power has been more or less publicly raised for years. The opposition coalition National Harmony entered the 1996 parliamentary election campaign with the slogan "Return the Money" - addressed to leaders of the then united Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).

The division of the most powerful Montenegrin party into Djukanovic's and Bulatovic's faction in spring 1997 and accusations of acquisition of enormous personal wealth exchanged by former close associates and friends additionally underlined this topic. This spurred deputies of the Republican assembly to adopt unanimously the recommendation for state officials, from the president of Montenegro to municipal councilmen, to offer to the public data on their personal and family property.

Nevertheless, the taken obligation was so far met only by leaders of Bulatovic's Socialist National Party (SNP) and Rakcevic's Social Democratic Party (SDP). Allegedly ministers in the government of Montenegro, headed by prime minister Vujanovic, have submitted data on personal and family property, but Montenegrin public still was not given the opportunity to get an overall insight into their contents, or at least into their most interesting part - which refers to ministers from the ranks of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).

That is why it is still amusing to chat about who is the richest Montenegrin minister in the streets of Podgorica and numerous coffee shops and their just opened terraces. According to speculations, among the serious candidates for the title of the wealthiest are the foreign minister Branko Perovic, minister of internal affairs Vukasin Maras and minister of health Miodrag Mugosa.

It is possible that their "forgetfulness" is inspired by the former president of Montenegro and the current ("self-proclaimed") federal prime minister Momir Bulatovic. He was the first to submit data on his property - during the campaign for presidential election in the end of 1997. But, it turned out that his report did not include about 70 square metres which the current federal prime minister is using since he had moved into the building constructed for the former leaders of Montenegro (and the then DPS). That is how what Bulatovic had intended to be an additional argument in his favour turned into just the opposite.

There are doubts that something similar might happen when inventory of property of Bulatovic's party comrades is concerned. Just a superficial check was sufficient to establish that in a completely unspectacular list of property of deputies of SNP, which among other included two dogs, four milking cows, five goats, a car or two, some apartments and business premises were omitted.

What such "imprecisions" can lead to was seen by many on the example of savings of Ankica Tudjman, wife of the Croatian president. But, perhaps the comparison with Croatia is inadequate. If for no other reason because over here for a long time nobody has kept money in banks. There is also the possibility that the owner (or just users?) of property which is not on the official list of SNP has acquired that particular piece of property after the autumn inventory.

But although in its "recommendation" the assembly did not prescribe the mechanism of checking the required data on property, nor possible sanctions for incorrect statements, perhaps the incomplete (incorrect) data are better than no data at all. This was and still is experienced by many officials of the ruling coalition "For Better Living", primarily the president of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic, his predecessor at the head of the DPS Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic and chairman of the asembly Svetozar Marovic.

"Mrs. Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic has given up the leading post in the party for a package of shares in JP PTT Montenegro", it was established by SNP in the middle of December. Even more serious accusations were addressed at the expense of her party comrades: "Mister Svetozar Marovic has given up his ideals, and even his kinship with his best man established at the Ostrog monastery, for the sake of houses, shares and money. Mister Djukanovic has decided to take the regalia for himself. He wants neither more nor less to snatch away the aluminium combine for himself, in other words half of Montenegrin economy", claim his unitil recently not just party comrades. All this has been denied, of course, but a very embarrassing impression has remained. And an evident lack of facts.

The shadow of suspicion was cast mostly on Montenegrin president Djukanovic. Bulatovic's successor on Montenegrin throne did not condescend to give the data about his property to the public, despite his several times repeated statement that he was ready to make such a move "any time". This gave his opponents the pretext to claim that he and his associates "dare not confirm with their signatures that they are not owners of property which is temporarily registered under other people's names, because in this way persons who have temporarily rented their names and signatures would become real owners of his enterprises, houses and business premisses"!

Correct or incorrect, such accusations fall on fertile ground in Montenegro. It is, indeed, impossible to expect a different reaction in a country in which employees with university degrees earn three thousand dinars a month at the most, while young men, officially unemployed, drive cars the value of which exceeds several ten thousand marks. That is why many have doubts that the time of economic transition (and one could even say of initial accumulation of capital) is ideal for numerous manipulations and abuses.

On the other hand, ministers from the National Party (NS) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) openly challenged their colleagues from Montenegrin state leadership by making data on their property public via independent media. We have learnt in this way that the current minister of culture Budimir Dubak owns only a one-room apartment and a library. But his colleague, vice prime minister Dragisa Burzan (SDP) and members of his family own a three-room apartment in Podgorica, a three-room apartment in Sveti Stefan, "half of the lot on which a family house has been built (from the inheritance)" and one quarter of the apartment house in Hercegovacka street. Burzan also owns a "Zastava 128" car, and members of his family own "a sum of several ten thousand marks on their old foreign currency savings accounts...".

Nevertheless, according to the available data, the richest Montenegrin politician is the persident of SDP Zarko Rakcevic. Along with the considerable family inheritance (large estate in Podgorica owned by his family for more than 120 years), Rakcevic is successfully running a business of constructing and sale of apartments. But the main (and perhaps the wealthiest) protagonists on Montenegrin political scene still have not given statements on their property.

There are indications, however, that this silence will not last long. It is therefore possible that we will soon have the opportunity to be reassured that allegations are (un)justified that some state officials in Montenegro are engaged in politics just in order to acquire wealth, that their parties and their leaders were given land and cars as gifts for loyalty to federal or republican authorities, that others conditioned coalition cooperation with money, and that some even rented their votes - for money in foreign currency, of course. Or, the announced presentation of data on property and their possible verification, might inspire citizens of Montenegro to shout "give us our money back" in city squares again.

Zoran RADULOVIC

(AIM)