{"id":28338,"date":"2020-10-27T16:17:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=28338"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:28:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T12:28:53","slug":"mps-do-not-report-money-for-fuel-sai-and-budget-inspector-ignore-zoran-babics-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/mps-do-not-report-money-for-fuel-sai-and-budget-inspector-ignore-zoran-babics-case\/","title":{"rendered":"MPs Do Not Report Money for Fuel, SAI and Budget Inspector Ignore Zoran Babic\u2019s Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early 2016, a report from the Anti-Corruption Agency<\/em> was delivered to the addresses of the State Audit Institution<\/em> (SAI) and the Ministry of Finance\u2019s<\/em> Budget Inspectorate \u201cfor further jurisdiction and decision-making.\u201d Zoran Babi\u0107<\/strong> had not reported all of his income.<\/p>

The Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> official and acting director of the Corridors of Serbia<\/em> company was a member of the National Assembly<\/em> at the time, which provided him with a monthly salary, MP supplement, money for business trips, but also for fuel for his car which he drove to work.<\/p>

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Zoran Babi\u0107; photo: N1<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

If an MP\u2019s income is cut or raised by the amount of the average net annual salary (the so-called significant change), they are obliged to submit an extraordinary report on income in which they will include the fuel money. The MPs must also report this income if the fuel itself exceeds that limit.<\/p>

When checking Babi\u0107\u2019s income reports, the Agency<\/em> found that the monthly earnings he had reported did not match the actual numbers, which is why it issued a warning in April 2016. In 2014 alone, close to 874,000 dinars without taxes was taken from the budget for his arrivals by car.<\/p>

Although the Assembly\u2019s<\/em> finance department did not interpret those expenses as earnings because they were incurred during the performing of the MP job, the Tax Administration does perceive it as income and so Babi\u0107 was obliged to report it, according to the Agency<\/em>.<\/p>

However, the Center for Investigative Journalism<\/em> (CINS) has learned that not a single institution has checked the Agency\u2019s<\/em> allegations. The SAI and the Budget Inspectorate gave practically identical replies \u2013 the annual working report did not envisage checking Babi\u0107\u2019s income, and due to limited capacity the institutions did not act on a report beyond their regular plan. The check was not included in next year\u2019s work plan either.<\/p>

Bo\u017eo Dra\u0161kovi\u0107<\/strong>, a professor at the Faculty of Applied Ecology Futura<\/em> and a former member of the Agency<\/em> Board, believes that in this way the institutions wanted to avoid conducting the check:<\/p>

\u201cThat is a convenient excuse when you want to not do something, you say that you did not have the time, that it was not planned.\u201d<\/p>

In a conversation with the CINS journalist, Zoran Babi\u0107 said that he had not been an MP for years and \u201ccannot go back to that time.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cEverything that was done was done in accordance with the law,\u201d Babi\u0107 claims.<\/p>

Nevertheless, Babi\u0107 is not the only one who has not reported this income.<\/p>

According to CINS\u2019 database called How Much Does an MP Cost, 289.6 million dinars was set aside for the fuel expenses of MPs who came to sessions in their own cars between 2016 and 2020.<\/p>

Among them are the expenses of at least 32 incumbent MPs who did not report fuel reimbursement during the previous term of office, and traveled from other cities and towns to Belgrade for parliamentary sessions, shows the CINS analysis. That income cannot be found in any of their reports available on the Agency<\/em> website.<\/p>