Charges Against Minister Backovic Dropped

Dejan Milovac
Mreza za Afirmaciju Nevladinog Sektora

22 July 2005

Veselin Vuckovic, the Podgorica Public Prosecutor, rejected the criminal charges of abuse of office brought against Minister of Education Slobodan Backovic by MANS.

Minister Backovic acquitted

The Government of Montenegro said, in a public release, that the Prosecutor found that there were no bases for the charges against Backovic. Backovic was charged by MANS of ��eliminating practically all competition in a public tender by setting a one million Euro guarantee request.

Back then, MANS commented that the decision was �� a violation of all principles of the Law on Public Procurement and resulted in bids significantly higher than if there was a true competition�.

The Ministry explained that the �million EUR clause� was inserted in the tender competition to ensure a quality partner, in spite of the fact that it only produced two bids.

�One bid was submitted by Cikom, a company for which Backovic openly lobbied and Jugoimport-Mont, a company previously unknown for its work in the field of computer equipment�, state the charges submitted by MANS and subsequently rejected by Vuckovic.