At the forum, BIRN Montenegro presented its report on the spending of state-owned transport companies, which showed that most of them operate non-transparently.
BIRN Montenegro’s executive director, Vuk Maras, said the majority of state-owned companies continued to withhold business information even after the change of government in 2020.
“All of this leads us to suspect that political corruption established by the previous regime is still present in practice. The former government used state-owned companies’ resources in various ways to buy votes, and the extent of abuses has only expanded with the arrival of the new authorities,” Maras said.
During its eight months of monitoring, BIRN Montenegro tracked the spending of eight state-owned transport companies: Airports of Montenegro, the national airline ToMontenegro, Monteput, Montecargo, Port of Bar, Port of Kotor, Crnogorska Plovidba in Kotor, and Barska Plovidba.
Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister for the Political System, Justice and Anti-Corruption, Momo Koprivica, said that corruption in the transport sector harms not only the state budget but also the safety of citizens.
Minister of Transport Maja Vukicevic said there must be institutional accountability for corruption, noting that documents indicating possible corruption have been forwarded to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.
During the forum, the heads of state-owned transport companies said they will increase transparency in their operations and optimise company expenses. They stressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified workers, while at the same time they have an excess of administrative staff who do not contribute to the functioning of the system.