Head of Montenegro's Anti-Corruption Agency Jelena Perović arrested

(Patria) - The Special Police Department today arrested the head of Montenegro's Agency for Prevention of Corruption, Jelena Perović. She is charged with abuse of official position.

Previously, members of the Special Police Department, under the order of the Special Prosecutor's Office, blocked the building in Podgorica where the Agency for Prevention of Corruption is located, searched it, and removed documentation.

"After searching the office and official vehicle, by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), officers of the Special Police Department arrested J.P., the director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, due to well-founded suspicion that she committed the prolonged criminal offense of abuse of official position during last year and until April of this year," the Montenegrin SDT announced.

As explained, Perović was taken in for questioning, and "the police are searching her apartment and other premises to find other traces and evidence of the criminal offense".

This is the third arrest of former and current officials of the Montenegrin police and judiciary in the last few days, Hina reports.

On Sunday, former chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić and former high-ranking police official Zoran Lazović were arrested, charged with criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position. They were ordered to be detained for 30 days.

All of them were in office during the rule of Milo Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialists, and all were accused by the then opposition of protecting Đukanović and his family.

The director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, Jelena Perović, was accused by the non-governmental organization MANS and its leader Vanja Ćalović of "turning a blind eye to major corruption cases" involving officials of the Democratic Party of Socialists, and of failing to investigate how Đukanović acquired valuable property and a collection of watches allegedly worth over a million euros.

Furthermore, a finding from the state budget inspection recently appeared in the Montenegrin media, warning that Perović had written herself overtime and bonuses during 2023, for which she received almost 13,500 euros, which is contrary to the Law on Salaries of Public Sector Employees.

In the last two years, the Montenegrin special prosecutor's office has arrested about ten former heads of the police and judiciary, including former Supreme Court President Vesna Medenica and former Directors of the Police Directorate Veselin Veljović and Slavko Stojanović.