Deeply committed to fulfilling its mission, protecting the public interest and affirming the rule of law, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption organized a working breakfast with representatives of the diplomatic corps and the media on December 8th, marking the International Anti-Corruption Day.

"Integrity is not given thing, integrity is something that comes with hard work and credible action," said the President of the Agency's Council, Mr. Momčilo Radulović.

"At the Agency, we have reached a point where we can proudly say that we have achieved our goal: integrity, based on our results."

Director of the Agency Ms. Jelena Perović said that the motto of this year's celebration of the International Anti-Corruption Day "Your Right, Your Role: Say No to Corruption" indicates that every member of society can influence the achievement of a common goal, to strengthen the environment in which corruption will be perceived as a brake on overall progress by strengthening personal and professional integrity, and to strengthen the resilience of society to oppose it.

"We are pleased that our reform orientation and results have been recognized by the media community, which we see as a corrective factor and an important partner in preventing and detecting corruption, but also in promoting and affirming the highest ethical values and principles of good governance," she said.

In the first nine months of 2021, the Agency received 9,564 Reports on Income and Assets on various bases and all of them were administratively and technically verified. Regarding the accuracy and completeness of the data, 649 reports were verified, or 73.4 percent, out of 884 provided by the Annual Verification Plan.

Based on the controls, 154 misdemeanor proceedings were initiated against former public officials for failure to submit reports within 30 days of termination of public office, and 91 proceedings against public officials who took office but did not submit a report within the legal deadline of 30 days. These data testify to the nonselective work of the Agency.

In the area of control of financing of political entities and election campaigns, 3,714 submitted reports of subjects to the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns were verified, 131 regarding the regular work and 3,583 regarding the election campaigns.

In the first 9 months of 2021, the Agency received 110 whistleblower reports, significantly more than in the complete 2016 (56), 2017 (69) and 2020 (75), and at the annual level in 2018 and 2019.

"It is especially important that out of the total number of whistleblower reports, only 26.4 percent were submitted anonymously," said Ms. Milena Kustudic, senior advisor in the Section for Education, Research, Campaigns and Analytics.

"The Agency has completed 27 proceedings on whistleblower reports and determined the existence of threatening the public interest in 11.

Ms. Marina Mićunović, Head of the Section for International Cooperation, Standards and Public Relations, emphasized how much, since the establishment of the Agency, international partners have contributed to the quality results of this institution through expert support and donations.

Special focus was placed on support and concrete assistance during 2021, provided by the Delegation of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United States Embassy in Montenegro and the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI).