Corruption is widespread in Montenegrin public procurement. Public contracts within the construction, trade, agriculture and IT sectors are often believed to be rigged to fit the demands of companies with political influence or connections (HRR 2014). Institutional capacity for monitoring public tenders has been strengthened by the Law on Public Procurement, which requires all public procurement contracts to be published (CPPiM 2012). Only limited progress has been achieved in terms of enforcing the law (European Commission, Oct. 2014). Weak anti-corruption mechanisms impede efforts to increase the levels of transparency within the sector, and every third respondent believes that control in public procurement should be strengthened in state-authorities, organisations and services (CPPiM 2012). Only one-fifth of citizens consider public procurement is implemented to serve public interests, and most believe it concedes to political influence (CPPiM 2012). The authorities’ laxity in cracking down on corruption in the sector is reflected by the number of corruption investigations and/or prosecutions being very low (CPPiM 2012). A Montenegrin NGO reported that seven local governments violated the Public Procurement Law, and the same was reported by the state auditor, which noted that many state agencies violated procurement laws through direct agreements with interested parties (HRR 2014). Companies are recommended to implement special due diligence procedures to counter the likelihood of encountering corruption in the procurement process.
In the ‘Telekom Affair’ corruption case, allegations suggest that Ana Kolarevic, the sister of Montenegro’s prime minister, received a bribe on her brother’s behalf while overseeing the sale of the former state-owned Montenegrin Telekom in 2005. The US Securities and Exchange Commission detected corrupt activities in the privatisation process, including the bribing of at least two officials with a total of EUR 7.35 million by the purchasing company, Hungarian Magyar Telekom (Independent Balkan News Agency, Apr. 2015). Ana Kolarevic denies the allegations, claiming that she had received EUR 246,000 in return for legal services. The Prime Minister denies involvement in corruption and backs his sister’s claims (Independent Balkan News Agency, Apr. 2015). The US Securities and Exchange Commission have decided to waive the charges against Montenegro, yet Ana Kolarevic is still on the witnesses list (Kurir, Oct. 2015).