The lack of inspectors ties the prosecutors’ hands

Author: Dragana Šćepanović, Vijesti

This is where police experts for financial investigations should step in. Jet, for more than a decade, that municipality has had no inspector qualified to combat economic crime. The small number of those who could do it, who are with the competent Security Center (SC), due to too much work, often do not get to deal with cases from other municipalities as well.

The fact that in many security departments (SD) there is not a single inspector for combating economic crime is a big challenge in the work of the BSPO. According to the prosecutors, this problem is particularly pronounced in Cetinje, Pljevlja, Kolašin…

After multiple questions and three weeks waiting for answers, we couldn’t get information from the Police Directorate on how many inspectors have the knowledge and skills to cooperate with prosecutors’ offices in very diverse and increasingly complicated cases in the field of economic crime. Questions about possible plans and opportunities for personnel reinforcements in that area remained unanswered.

Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office (SSPO) also identified the lack of that staff in the police. They claim that they discussed it with the director of the Police Administration, in order to find a solution for the current unenviable situation. The SSPO reminds that after the changes to the Law, the jurisdiction of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office has been narrowed and that cases related to economic crime are under the jurisdiction of the Higher and Basic State Prosecutor’s Office.

Amendments to the Law on the Special State Prosecutor’s Office were adopted to overcome the problems that arose in its practical application due to the wide-ranging jurisdiction of the SDT. Thus, his jurisdiction was reduced to high-level corruption.

“That is why there is an evident and real need for the police, through the internal organization, to provide quality personnel, which would contribute to the efficient handling of those cases in the state prosecutor’s offices. Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković organizes regular meetings with the heads of state prosecutions, in order to get acquainted with the results and challenges in work, and is aware of the lack of capacity of the UP at the level of the CB and OB in the area of ​​combating economic crime. The director of the police was informed of the need to provide organizational and personnel capacities to overcome the above-mentioned situation,” said the VDT.

According to Maja Šćepanović, head of the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Kolašin, the fact that there is no inspector for the suppression of economic crime in the police in that city is a huge challenge for her and her colleague  Stanka Rakočević.

This is the case, despite the fact that in the last few years, Kolašin has been “recognized as a place where a large number of housing units are built and their traffic is carried out, and also as a place that, due to its traffic connections, is a transit place for transporting various types of goods”.

“At the same time, a large number of foreigners visit Kolasin, either tourists or workers who work on various facilities in the city. We tried to make up for the lack of inspectors for the suppression of economic crime in communication with the head of Security Department Kolašin by engaging the Department for Economic Crime of the Regional Center – North. However, we did not encounter any cooperation, but after a few months of waiting, the case was returned without any action being taken”, claimed Šćepanović.

The Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Kolašin, they are trying to solve the problem by cooperating with the appropriate inspections.

However, Šćepanović claims that this is far from an effective solution, primarily due to the long wait for inspection reports. The lack of inspectors is particularly visible, she claims, in the area of ​​financial investigations.

For now, the prosecution is forced to gather evidence independently.

The Kolašin BSPO says that the only appropriate solution would be the establishment of a department for economic crime at the Kolašin Department of Security. Even one inspector and a couple of officials who would help him in his work would be enough, they say.

This year, the Kolašin District Court had 30 per cent more cases compared to the same period last year, and Šćepanović, until recently, was the only prosecutor in that municipality for years.

Work on cases in the field of economic crime is no easier for the prosecutors in the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Pljevlja. In the Security Department there, as well as in the police stations in Žabljak and Šavnik, there is no inspector for economic crime. By default, those cases are handled by officers in charge of other tasks within the jurisdiction of the police.

“In the Security Department in Pljevlja, the Žabljak Police Station and the Šavnik Police Station, which deal with cases for which this prosecution has local jurisdiction, there are currently no inspectors for the suppression of economic crime, which greatly complicates the handling of those cases. For this reason, other police officers are entrusted with the performance of tasks in the field of economic crime. “During this year, 11 cases were filed in the Pljevlja BSPO for criminal acts in the field of economic crime,” said the PR department of the Pljevlja Prosecutor’s Office.

The deficit of police personnel limits the work of the BSPO in Cetinje, so they are forced to contact inspectors from that area who are assigned to CB Podgorica or other municipalities. Due to the lack of inspectors specialized in combating economic crime, there is no police initiative towards the prosecution.

“The deficit in this staff significantly limits the work, that is, the action of this prosecutor’s office in cases from the field of economic crime, since the lack of inspectors from this field also causes a small number of activities of police officers, due to the existence of indications that would possibly indicate grounds for suspicion that it was committed some criminal offense in the field of economic crime. In cases from that area, as a rule, the prosecution hires experts from the field of economic and financial profession, and if there is a need for cooperation with police officers from OB Cetinje, those tasks are performed by police officers who are not trained in that area”, stated the BSPO in Cetinje.

In Montenegro, there are 13 basic state prosecutor’s offices, whose local jurisdiction sometimes includes dealing with the territories of several municipalities. The actual jurisdiction of those bodies is criminal offenses for which a prison sentence of up to 10 years is prescribed.

If there were no shortage of staff in the police, the prosecution, as the bearer of criminal prosecution, and the inspectors, as experts in the detection of economic crime, could mutually exchange information, resources and expertise… Their cooperation would also imply that the inspectors provide the prosecution with evidence that can be used to initiate or conduct criminal proceedings.

That cooperation should also mean that police officers identify suspected economic crimes, but also perform complex financial investigations, accounting analyzes and expert reports.

In the Information on the cross-section of the current situation in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from October last year, among the personnel and professional deficiencies in the UP, “insufficient training in the control of legal entities, secret surveillance measures  and financial investigations” was noted. as well as not having financial investigation software. Among the 10 priority tasks of the Ministry for this year are the fight against economic crime and financial malfeasance, as well as the establishment of professional and more efficient cooperation with judicial authorities.

The criminal police sector is divided into seven departments, among which is the Department for Suppression of General Crime. The tasks of that department should refer to “finding and depriving the perpetrators of economic crimes of their freedom, undertaking measures and activities to prevent the commission of economic crimes, as well as monitoring and studying the state and forms of economic crime”.

Officially, the officers of that department should also assess the danger of certain areas from certain criminal acts of economic crime and improve the efficiency of detecting criminal acts in that area. Direct involvement in the detection of the most complex cases with elements of economic crime, and directing and coordinating the work, performing supervision, control and providing professional assistance in the work, and achieving and improving cooperation with the prosecution organization – are also the tasks of that part of the criminal police.

According to the Montenegrin police, the department should consist of a group for the suppression of criminal acts of economic crime in the economy and outside the economy.

According to the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Berane, “the cooperation with the inspectors for the suppression of economic crime – the head of the unit for the suppression of economic crime and one inspector, is at a professional and good level.” However, they explain that more serious crimes sometimes require a longer period of time to prove them. In that prosecutor’s office, they explained that during this year they also filed cases for the criminal offence of smuggling, which included four people, one person was included in the case for the offence of illegal banking, stock exchange and insurance activities. 13 persons are charged with abuse of position in business operations. The work of the Berane prosecutor’s office, which is responsible for both Petnjica and Andrijevica, includes cases for the criminal offences of disclosure of business secrets and illegal trade.

The Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Bijelo Polje explained that the challenges in cases of economic crime are greater compared to other criminal acts, considering the severity of the consequences and the method of execution. However, the prosecutor’s office is satisfied with the cooperation with the inspectors in charge of that area, because it takes place upon the report of the inspector, and sometimes proactively by the prosecutor’s office.