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Council of
Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) publishes report on the
Republic of Montenegro
The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring mechanism, the Group of
States against Corruption (GRECO) has published today its Joint First and
Second Round Evaluation Report on the Republic of Montenegro (link
to report). The report is made public with the agreement of the
authorities of the Republic of Montenegro.
Corruption is one of the major concerns of Montenegrin citizens. The sectors
usually identified as being worst affected are the judiciary, the customs
service and the police, followed by healthcare, public procurement,
licensing and privatisation. Although significant improvements through legal
and institutional reform of the judiciary have been achieved, the
independence of judges and prosecutors is still an issue of preoccupation.
GRECO addresses 24 recommendations to the Republic of Montenegro. In
particular, there is a need for greater specialisation and co-operation of
the bodies involved in the detection and prosecution of corruption offences.
The report acknowledges the efforts displayed in preparing the necessary
legal and regulatory basis for the prevention of and fight against
corruption in public administration, in particular since the establishment
of the Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative. That said, further
improvements are required with respect, for example, to access to official
documents, prevention of conflicts of interest, protection of whistleblowers
and licensing procedures. Finally, GRECO recommends to establish liability
of legal persons (in particular commercial companies) for corruption
offences, in accordance with the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law
Convention.
Measures taken by the Republic of Montenegro to implement GRECO’s
recommendations will be assessed in the context of a specific compliance
procedure in the first half of 2008.