Army sued over money

Army sued over money

The first set of lawsuits was submitted a year and a half ago. There are currently 3 000 military personnel in Montenegro claiming that the army had for years paid them less than it was legally obligated. Dragan Todorović, chairman of the Montenegrin association of retired military personnel, says the suits were brought because the former and serving army personnel were not fully paid. “We received our retirement papers with the note that the payments would take place later, when funds are available, but that never happened”, he explained.

The Defense Ministry representatives say this in only one of the inherited problems and that there are between fifty and seventy thousand people in Serbia who could decide to sue the army on the same basis. Minister Zoran Stanković says the problem arose with the adoption of the Law on salaries in 1994, which set the military salary at three average wages plus bonuses. “A number of Serbians have files lawsuits as well. We hope the problem will be solved”, Stanković said.

Stanković also said that the ministry sought assistance from the Serbian government, and the Finance minister said that it is the Montenegrin military pension fund that owes € 20 million to its Serbian counterpart. “It is very interesting that this citizens’ initiative with the lawsuits surfaces now that we have raised the question of Montenegro paying that money to Serbia. I think we can see the goings-in in that context, and everyone has the right to go to the international courts”, Dinkić said.

The payment would not only burden the Serbian Finance ministry, but also that of Montenegro. According to earlier statement by the Montenegrin Finance minister Igor Lukšić, Montenegro is just as unwilling to make the payments to the army.