Montenegro Anti Corruption Institutional Framework

Corruption Perception Index
by Transparency International:
45/100 (2019)
Government Effectiveness (from -2,5 to +2,5),
World Governance Indicators by World Bank:
+0,15 (2017)
Control of Corruption (from -2,5 to +2,5),
World Governance Indicators by World Bank:
-0,09 (2017)
Index of Economic Freedom
by Heritage Foundation:
64.3/100 (2018)
Corruption (1=best, 7=worst),
Nations in Transit by Freedom House:
4.75 (2018)
Democracy Score (1=best, 7=worst),
Nations in Transit by Freedom House:
3.93 (2018)

Following the establishment of Agency for Prevention of Corruption in January 2016, the institutional anti-corruption framework unified and strengthened anti-corruption efforts in Montenegro. The Agency took over the responsibilities of the Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative and Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest.

The Agency is responsible for implementation of measures for prevention of conflict of public and private interest, restrictions in the exercise of public functions, collecting and checking the reports on assets and income of public officials, receiving and acting upon whistleblower reports, protecting whistleblowers, and other issues of importance to the prevention and suppression of corruption, in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Corruption. The Agency is also responsible for implementation of the Law on financing of political entities and election campaigns and the Law on Lobbying. It also gives opinion on draft laws and conducts research in the field of anti-corruption. The Agency is an independent and autonomous body.

The main investigative anti-corruption bodies are the Department for the Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption within the Criminal Police Sector of the Police Directorate and the Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

The Department for fight against organized crime and corruption carries out the activities related to:
Monitoring and analyzing the situation and trends of organized crime;
Monitoring and analyzing international criminal groups that are related to the perpertrators of criminal activity – citizens of Montenegro;
Defining centers of organized crime;
Identifying, monitoring and studying organized crime;
Carrying out risk assessments and damage caused by organized crime;
Implementing operational activities in relation to groups and individuals;
Initiating at the Special Prosecutor’s office the application of special investigative techniques;
Directly participating in identifying of assets gained through crime and their seizure;
Proposing preventive measures within the competence of criminal police, in relation to organized crime;
Implementing international police cooperation in specific cases and in that sense, the law enforcement agencies of countries from the region and beyond, establishing a network of contacts to ensure timely exchange of operational and other data about individuals – citizens of Montenegro, etc.

Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing is an autonomous public administration body established as an administrative financial-intelligence unit. Apart from detection of money laundering and terrorism financing, the Directorate is also in charge of initiating and conducting first instance misdemeanour proceedings, in the cases of breaches of the Law.

The Special State Prosecutor`s Office is established for the territory of Montenegro, within the State Prosecution Service, as a unique and autonomous authority. The Special State Prosecutor`s Office takes all the actions falling within its jurisdiction before the Special Division of the High Court in Podgorica. The seat of the Special State Prosecutor`s Office is in Podgorica.
The Special State Prosecutor`s Office has the jurisdiction for prosecution of perpetrators of the following criminal offences:
1. organised crime, regardless of duration of the prescribed punishment;
2. high-level corruption;
a. if a public official committed the following criminal offences:
i. abuse of office,
ii. fraud in the conduct of an official duty,
iii. trading in influence,
iv. inciting to engage in trading in influence,
v. passive bribery,
vi. active bribery,
b. if the proceeds of crime exceeding the amount of EUR 40,000 have been obtained by committing the following criminal offences:
i. abuse of position in business undertakings,
ii. abuse of authority in economy,
3. money laundering;
4. terrorism and
5. war crimes.

In addition the anti-corruption bodies there are several other governmental institutions that contribute to the fight against corruption such as Tax Administration, Public Procurement Directorate, Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure and State Audit Institution.