Do you know how your money is spent?
Every year, millions of dinars from the public budget end up in the hands of dubious organizations. Although public competitions should support the work of organizations that truly serve the public interest, the reality is different: funds often go to so-called GONGO organizations (government organized non-governmental organizations), which are often established solely to extract budget money.
Civic initiatives, together with organizations gathered in the coalition Open About Competitions – OKO, have been monitoring these abuses for years. Through an analysis of the competition, allocated funds, and related organizations, we documented numerous irregularities and corruption schemes that enable non-transparent distribution of money from the budget.
Our research methods and findings have now been translated into the “Handbook for Mapping and Tracking GONGOs and Phantom Organizations” – a tool that enables faster identification of these organizations and uncovering their connections with decision-makers. The manual is intended for:
- To members of competition committees – to allocate funds based on realistic criteria, not pre-agreed arrangements.
- Journalists and researchers – to make it easier to follow the money trail and expose rigged competitions.
- Organizations and citizens – so they know how to check suspicious allocations and demand accountability from institutions.
Abuses are systemic – there is no epilogue yet
Let us recall that back in 2014, after it was discovered that funds from the Ministry of Labor’s competition had been awarded to organizations with identical projects, many of which were founded just a few months before the competition and some even after the competition was announced, the then Minister Aleksandar Vulin was forced to cancel the competition. In the same year, we filed a criminal complaint against an unidentified person over the disputed competition, which was dismissed by the Prosecutor’s Office three years later. Iste godine podneli smo krivičnu prijavu protiv NN lica zbog spornog konkursa, koju je nakon tri godine Tužilaštvo odbacilo.
Even after almost a decade of continuous reports of irregularities, the situation has not changed – abuses are present at all levels.
Irregularities were identified in public competitions announced by the Ministry of Family Care and Demography, the Ministry of Youth and Sports/Ministry of Tourism and Youth, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Education, city and provincial secretariats, the cabinets of ministers without portfolio, and individual local government units. Detailed analyses of competition procedures and recipients of funds showed: Detaljne analize konkursnih procedura i dobitnika sredstava pokazale su:
Let us recall the 2021 Ministry of Family Care and Demography competition. The funds were transferred to the accounts of private agencies owned by family members and close people. Most often, the competitions were intended for the prevention of domestic and youth violence, but it was found that the activities were either completely absent or were carried out without compensation by school employees. In this way, five million euros were extracted from the Ministry.
In the same Ministry’s 2022 competition, researchers came across a network of 24 organizations that were “created” immediately before the competition was announced, by re-registering existing associations that had not been active for years before.
Criminal charges have been filed against the responsible persons in the Ministry, but the competent Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has not yet initiated an investigation.
What next?
Download the manual and find out how the system of drawing budget funds through GONGO organizations works.
Let’s not allow public money to be spent behind closed doors.
Share this information and demand accountability!
You can download the manual by clicking the button below.