Administrative Court declares itself incompetent over appeal against ASK director’s election: “wrong legal advice”

More than four months after one of the candidates for director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK), Dušan Drakiq, appealed the decision electing the institution’s current head Kristina Braletiq, the answer came from the Administrative Court: they are not competent for this dispute.

The court found that the decision electing Braletiq had been given “wrong legal advice”, so the plaintiff cannot suffer harmful consequences as regards the lawsuit deadline. That decision stated it could be challenged with a lawsuit at the Administrative Court; but in the reasoning of the incompetence decision, the court finds that the Agency Council’s decision is challenged at the Basic Court. The lawsuit at the competent Basic Court is considered filed on the day it was filed at this court.

Commenting on the decision, Drakiq told “Vijesti” that the Administrative Court “thus confirmed that the Council gave candidates wrong legal advice” — one thing was written to the candidates, and only a month later another thing was written to the court. He asks the Council to clarify whether all members were aware of the content of the acts, or whether the then-chairman of the Council Pavle Çupiq acted alone — according to him this is no longer about a simple administrative mistake, but about responsibility and trust in the institution.

Çupiq, who was chairman of the Council when the decision electing Braletiq was taken, confirmed he had signed the decision containing the legal advice on the possibility of a lawsuit at the Administrative Court. According to him, the draft had been prepared earlier by the Council’s secretary, guided by the practice and model of all previous decisions; with the new anti-corruption Law, the corresponding application of the Labor Law is foreseen, so the Agency’s decisions are challenged in regular courts, except for the decision dismissing the director, for which the Administrative Court’s competence is foreseen. He calls it a “technical error in the legal advice itself” with no consequences for the plaintiff’s rights.

The current chairwoman of the ASK Council Aleksandra Vukašinoviq told “Vijesti” that the Council, as a collective body, still has to examine the situation and take a joint position, so she cannot express a personal view.

The ASK Council elected Braletiq as director on April 17, for a five-year mandate. Five candidates applied for the competition — Mithat Kuç, Drakiq, Nina Raduloviq, Vladimir Stanišiq and Braletiq; Kuç and Stanišiq withdrew on the day of the interview, while after talks with the remaining candidates the Council members voted: four votes for and one against, after which it was established that Braletiq had received the necessary majority.

Source: Vijesti