Montenegro’s new government, led by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, has proposed legislative changes that would allow the removal of chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnic. The parliament is due to vote on the changes by February 18.

Katnic has been associated with the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which is now in opposition after ruling the country for more than three decades. He led the investigation and trial against several leaders of parties in the current ruling coalition, who were charged with plotting a coup against the DPS back in 2016.

Katnic’s work led to guilty verdicts for 13 people, including Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic, leaders of the Democratic Front (DF).

According to the proposed amendments, the special prosecution should be replaced by a prosecution for organised crime and corruption. The new ruling coalition has pledged to focus on the fight against corruption and organised crime as Montenegro had been criticised for years for the lack of progress in that area.

In the proposal for legislation changes, the ruling coalition says that the current special prosecution has failed to meet expectations in the fight against corruption and has a very limited scope.

The special prosecution was formed back in 2015 by the then government of Milo Djukanovic, the leader of the DPS, who is currently the president of Montenegro. Katnic was picked to lead the special prosecution for two mandates.

In its latest progress report, the European Commission noted that the country has set up an anti-corruption agency, but it is yet to “demonstrate a proactive approach in all areas falling under its mandate, including on the protection of whistle blowers, the control of financing of political parties and electoral campaign, and oversight of lobbying”.

More arrests of former top officials

The ruling coalition has already replaced the management of the police, while former and current top officials have been detained for alleged abuse of office.

On February 4, the police arrested the head of the state-owned Investment Development Fund (IRF) Zoran Vukcevic and former agriculture ministers Petar Ivanovic and Budimir Mugosa, who were charged with abuse of office. Ivanovic was interrogated and released as he has immunity as a DPS MP, but the authorities have called on parliament to lift it so that the investigation can proceed.

The detainees are suspected of abusing their positions in the distribution of money provided from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. The fund provided €50mn to Montenegro in 2015 for loans for the agriculture sector.

According to news outlet Vijesti, more arrests are expected in the coming days, all related to the spending of money from the Abu Dhabi Fund.

Earlier in February, Montenegro’s special prosecution also launched a probe into claims that officials from the previous government destroyed confidential documents. The investigation was launched after Krivokapic accused ex-officials of destroying papers. Krivokapic says the previous government, led by Dusko Markovic and formed by the DPS, destroyed documents between 2016 and 2020.

Markovic has denied the accusations and said that the destroyed documents were not classified but outdated, and were destroyed according to the law.

However, in January the new head of Montenegro’s national security body, Dejan Vuksic, who was appointed by the new government, said that some officers from the agency destroyed confidential documents concerning illegal wiretapping and surveillance.

The special prosecution has already started interrogation of those officers. Vijesti reported that, according to its sources, they have denied the accusations.