General Information
Following the establishment of Agency for Prevention of Corruption in January 2016, the institutional anti-corruption framework unified and strengthened anti-corruption efforts in Montenegro. The Agency took over the responsibilities of the Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative and Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest.
The Agency is responsible for implementation of measures for prevention of conflict of public and private interest, restrictions in the exercise of public functions, collecting and checking the reports on assets and income of public officials, receiving and acting upon whistleblower reports, protecting whistleblowers, and other issues of importance to the prevention of corruption, in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Corruption. The Agency is also responsible for implementation of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns and the Law on Lobbying. It also gives opinion on draft laws and enacted laws and conducts research in the field of anti-corruption. The Agency is an independent and autonomous body.
The main investigative anti-corruption bodies are the Sector for the Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption within the Police Directorate and the Sector for Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, also within Police Directorate.
Sector for Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing is an administration body established as an administrative financial-intelligence unit. Apart from detection of money laundering and terrorism financing, the Sector is also in charge of initiating and conducting first instance misdemeanour proceedings, in the cases of breaches of the Law.
The Special State Prosecutor`s Office is established for the territory of Montenegro, within the State Prosecution Service, as a unique and autonomous authority. The Special State Prosecutor`s Office takes all the actions falling within its jurisdiction before the Special Division of the High Court in Podgorica. The seat of the Special State Prosecutor`s Office is in Podgorica.
In addition to the anti-corruption bodies there are several other governmental institutions that contribute to the fight against corruption such as Ministry of Justice, Tax Administration, Directorate for Public Procurement Policy, Special Prosecution Office for the Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime, Asset Recovery Office, Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure and State Audit Institution
Corruption Perception Surveys
Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International |
46/100 (2023) |
Government Effectiveness (from -2,5 to +2,5), World Governance Indicators by World Bank: |
-0.03 (2022) |
Control of Corruption (from -2,5 to +2,5), World Governance Indicators by World Bank: |
-0.12 (2022) |
Index of Economic Freedom by Heritage Foundation: |
59.7 (2024) |
Corruption (1=best, 7=worst), Nations in Transit by Freedom House: |
3.00 (2024) |
Democracy Score Nations in Transit by Freedom House: |
69/100 (2024) |
Balkan Barometer 2024 by RCC | 28% say that corruption is the biggest problem facing the economy. |
GRECO Fifth Evaluation Round- Evaluation Report |
Issued: October 2022 |