After another report from the European Commission, in which Montenegro is criticised due to serious problem with organized crime, it is clear that not only there are no concrete and sustainable results, but above all, there is no liability determined for disastrous work of the police and the State Prosecutor’s Office in this field.
Estimates that there is a perception that Montenegro is still “a regional platform for smuggling cigarettes,” as well as that its borders are still open for drugs intended for EU countries, are discouraging and require liability above all in the ranks of the State Prosecutor’s Office and the police for the current state of these problems.
When it comes to smuggling cigarettes, in its report, the European Commission recognizes the lack of timely financial investigations and confiscation of property in such cases, and it finds cigarette smuggling through the Free Zone of the Port of Bar especially problematic. According to the report, as a state priority, Montenegro should address the sensitivity of the Port of Bar to smuggling cigarettes, including the risks of political influence and interference in the work of competent authorities, as well as the issue of infiltration of criminal interests into the decision-making system at the local level.
In addition, although Montenegro is recognized as a destination from which drugs come to European markets, response of Montenegro’s State Prosecutor’s Office remains insufficiently resolute in order to address this problem. This is confirmed by the evaluation of the report in which the European Commission finds that trials for narcotics trafficking end with the conclusion of a plea agreement, while financial investigations, confiscation and seizure of property acquired by narcotics smuggling are still rare.
The report particularly addressed the existence of organized crime groups in Montenegro, whose main activity is smuggling narcotics and which, thanks to links with criminal groups from South America, have a dominant position in supplying Europe with cocaine.
Despite the slight progress in some areas in the fight against organized crime, this year’s European Commission estimates show that everything the state authorities are doing is not enough for Montenegro to no longer be a dark spot on the European map of the rule of law and the place where criminals feel free.
Unfortunately, Montenegrin police and the State Prosecutor’s Office have done very little so far to send corrupt politicians and members of the Montenegrin underworld a message that Montenegro no longer wants to be a playground for domestic and international criminals, a safe port for money laundering, smuggling of cigarettes, arms and weapons, and finally, the place where incompetent prosecutors and the police work consciously or unconsciously in their own interests.
The fact is that after several years of very sharp criticism from not only Brussels, but from other relevant international addresses as well, which described as “mafia state” as well, current personnel in the police and the State Prosecutor’s Office cannot be an adequate response to a challenge such as fight organized crime that has infiltrated into all these branches of government over the past three decades.
A serious reform in this area will require the complete freedom of the judiciary, the police and the State Prosecutor’s Office from political influence, both in terms of their appointment, and the influence which political and criminal structures undisputedly have during investigations and prosecution of cases of organized crime in Montenegro.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the Investigative Centre
MANS
