Abuse of public function

After 15 months from the election campaign for local elections in Belgrade, within which we focused our attention to Anti-Corruption Agency on some of the most serious violations of Article 29, which prohibits politicians to use public function to promote party interests, we were informed that in one such case The Agency found a violation of the law.

Namely, according to the Agency, the violation was made by Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Zorana Mihajlovic, on February 5, 2018, during a visit to the village of Skela when she visited works on the reconstruction of the section of the regional road and said that "she does not give empty promises and false promises at the time of the elections can not be heard from her, from ministers or from the SNS, and that they can hear it from ..."the two leaders of the opposition lists for the city elections she has appointed. Due to this use of the public function for the promotion of the SNS, whose member she is, ministers, the Agency issued a "warning measure" to Minister.

Since this warning measure is not published, and on the other hand, this type of abuse of public function is not something specific only to the this Minister, but is equally characteristic for almost all members of the Government and many other public officials at all levels of government, this decision of the Agency we published on TS website.

In many other cases, contrary to the evidences of the use of a public function for political promotion, which were in some cases more powerful than in this, the Agency was of the opinion that the law was not violated.

Such was, for example, the case of promotion of SNS candidates in Zemun gymnasium or the promotion of a party rally on the Facebook account of the municipality of Voždovac or a political settlement of the Minister of energy with the opposition, through the ministry website. (more detailed in TS publications).

We also remind that TS made concrete proposals in order to prevent or limit the functionary campaign, in the analysis of 2017, as well as in the proposal for supplementing the current draft of the Law on Prevention of Corruption.