Details

High-profile XIII National Anti-Corruption Conference in Podgorica

Published: December 19, 2019
Montenegro

On 9 December 2019, the XIII National Anti-Corruption Conference was held in Podgorica, initiated by the non-governmental organisation MANS, a network supporting the NGO sector. As in previous years, the event was organised by the IRZ together with the EU delegation in Montenegro, the British Embassy and Transparency International.

The conference was opened by:

  • Dr. Robert Weber, German Ambassador,
  • Aivo Orav, EU Ambassador,
  • Alison Kemp, British Ambassador,
  • Mevludin Nuhodžić, Minister of Internal Affairs, Montenegro, and
  • Aleksandar Drljević, Chief negotiator for Montenegro’s accession to the EU.

The high-ranking international and national guests present at the start of the conference reflected the importance of the event.

During the main part of the conference, the participants discussed the following topics in three different panels:

  • Political corruption: Key issues in Montenegro
  • International standards and expert recommendations
  • The exposure and prosecution of high-level corruption

The first panel discussions mainly involved members of parliament representatives and party representatives. Experts from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and from the ODIHR, the OSCE human rights organisation, were among the speakers on the second panel. The subject for the third panel was discussed mainly by investigators from Montenegro, Italy and Germany. Those who took part in the discussions included Milivoje Katni, a specialist Public Prosecutor from Montenegro, Dejan Milovac, a criminal investigations specialist from MANS and the Editor-in-Chief of the TV news programme “Vijesti”, Tatjana Ašanin. German expert knowledge of the subject was presented by Björn Ziera, a Public Prosecutor from Hamburg, who has already represented the IRZ in Montenegro several times before.

The entire event was characterised by an interested audience and lively discussions on some quite controversial subjects. As in previous years, there was a great deal of media interest in the event. Radio and press coverage focussed in particular on the fact that the fight against corruption must go on regardless of the persons involved.