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The Vice President of the Anti-Corruption Council, Miroslav Milicevic, told FoNet that the Council would discuss and comment on Telecom on September 23, because this is an issue that interests the public very much, but at the same time noted that “there are no results in the fight against corruption “. And that Serbia is “below the European average”.
When asked if the most serious internal pressure on the Council really begins in 2017, when the Serbian Government imposed two members, Milicevic told FoNet that “the Council gained independence by always proposing its members, and the Government named, but previous governments did not allow the composition to be filled. “
Asked whether the two members of the Government were impeding the Council’s work, taking into account that the reports were adopted by consensus, he alluded to the situation around Telecom and the contract with the private company Wireless Media, and stated that “it has been presented an unusual situation in public. ”
He explained that “the Council never votes on a draft or working document, and that in the case of Telecom no one hinders the work, because the opinion can be adopted by majority vote and not by consensus.”
According to him, “it is in everyone’s interest to clarify that the members do not want to lose credibility and there is no politicization where there is corruption.”
Milicevic did not comment on the possible corruption in the case of Telecom and a private company, nor on the attitude of his colleague Jelisaveta Vasilic that the misuse of public money for private purposes is on Wednesday.
As he explained, “he does not want to say anything publicly” until the City Council “publishes its opinion on the contract between Telekom and Wireless Media.”
However, he denied the impression that the Council did not endorse its member Jelisaveta Vasilić, against whom a sensational campaign was carried out due to the publicly stated position on the situation at Telecom.
She stated that she “personally and publicly stated that she had no conflict of interest” and noted that, as vice president, “she represented the Council for the Fight against Corruption” in that action.
However, he believes that “it is not common for members of the Council to speak outside the Council on issues on which the Council has not acted.”
“It can only be in the form of personal opinion, which the Council cannot accept as a report,” Milicevic said, recalling that “no one has made public their opinion on the case in question.”
He confirmed that he had a board meeting scheduled for September 23, which would later give an opinion on the contract between Telecom and the private company, but denied having announced this summer that everything would be finished.
“In a country where pre-investigation activities around Sartid have been going on for 13 years, it is unrealistic to expect the Council to issue some opinions in five or seven days, especially since we are obtaining official documents, and that is happening. “Milicevic explained.
As announced, the public will be informed immediately after the harmonization of opinions, which is “an extraordinary job that they do precisely for the public interest.”
Milicevic, as pressure, perceives the fact that “the members of the Council are called every day in the media, which allegedly obstruct the report, which is incorrect and is not a reflection of good journalism.”
Minister Mihajlović’s letter is not the first pressure from the authorities on the Council
Milicevic also told FoNet that he “takes the letter from Minister Zorana Mihajlovic, following the report on the railway, announcing a review of the work of the Council and its reform,” but that this is not the first time that the Council has faced such an attitude of the executive.
“Since the council was formed, it has not been on good terms with any government, although the offices of that body are in the Serbian Government building,” Milicevic said.
He recalled several previous attempts to influence the work of the Council, including “a six-month monitoring meeting with representatives of the European Union, when it was stated that the Council’s reports were not adequate or of sufficient quality, which was not accepted by the European Commission “.
Explaining the reasons for the problems in relations with the government, Milicevic mentioned that “the reports are not made public for seven to ten days, because the response from the Serbian government to which the report is sent is awaited first.”
As he specified, “we are waiting for someone to invite us to talk about it, to tell us if we have not done something correctly, to correct or supplement” the data.
“However, here no one calls us, and then they get mad at us when the reports are made public,” said Milicevic, who believes there is “incredible behavior towards criticism, which is reflected in the attack on a person or institution”.
Referring to the specific report on the railway, which caused Minister Mihajlović to publicly threaten the Council, although she did not respond to the allegations in the report prior to its publication, she noted that everyone treated the railway as if it were no one’s business.
He recalled the corporate restructuring of the railroad in 2015, when it was divided into three parts, but costs increased rather than decreased.
About 44% of the loan and grant money was spent, and much less was done than expected, while the data from the relevant ministries, which have been waiting for four months, does not fit, Milicevic explained.
Fight against corruption below the European average
Speaking of the fight against corruption in Serbia, he noted that “there are no results” and that we are now “below the European average”.
“What else do we need from the comments of the Greeks or the European Commission?” We can deny all that, but that will not change the fact that corruption exists here, “Milicevic emphasized.
He considers that “it is most difficult to assess whether something has been achieved in the fight against corruption” and points out that “he does not particularly like the public demonstrations of the fight against corruption in which the number of arrests is announced and never reaches the epilogue “.
Milicevic noted that the Council is especially interested in systemic corruption, which has existed for decades and against which the fight is difficult, because constant changes in the law and emergency procedures without public discussion create an environment that makes the fight difficult.
In his opinion, “fewer and fewer people are participating in the fight against corruption, due to the taboidization of the mainstream media, which results in the inversion of the value system, crawling through the mud, destroying authority and family of who speaks critically “.
Citizens are discouraged from getting involved in the fight against corruption and the lack of results when reporting corruption, the length of processes and the failure to find elements of corruption, resulting in the loss of their “political will” to insist on the rule of law and respect for the law, Milicevic concluded.
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