State auditing institution (DRI) announced on Monday (September 8) that the City of Belgrade seriously violated the obligation of good business, which is why it sent a request to the Assembly of the City of Belgrade for the dismissal of the responsible person - Mayor Aleksandar Šapić. The SAI also informed the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia about this.
Lawyer Rodoljub Šabić told Vreme that the SAI, as a competent institution, found serious shortcomings in the actions of the mayor in connection with the finances of the capital, and that such a proposal would have specific weight in regulated states.
"That's not exactly the case with us. This is not a unique case of the SAI proposing the dismissal of an official without any consequences. On the contrary," Šabić says.
He reminds that last year the SAI requested the dismissal of the director of the Judicial Academy, Nenad Vujić, about which he informed the National Assembly and sent the request to the Governing Board of the Judicial Academy. The epilogue was that Vujić was not dismissed, but that he had made amends and became the Minister of Justice this year.
Necessary third of the councilors for the proposal
Article 29 of the Law on the Capital City prescribes how the mayor can be dismissed.
"The mayor can be dismissed before the end of the term for which he was elected on the reasoned proposal of at least a third of the councilors, in the same way he was elected. The proposal to dismiss the mayor must be discussed and decided within 15 days from the day the proposal is submitted to the president of the city assembly," the law says.
If the City Assembly does not dismiss the mayor, the councilors who submitted the proposal for dismissal cannot again propose the dismissal of the mayor, before the expiration of six months from the rejection of the previous proposal.
"The act of the SAI is sufficient to be the capital part of the reasoned proposal, but at least a third of the councilors must submit such a proposal. In that case, the chairman of the Assembly would have to put it on the agenda within 15 days. How the assembly would vote probably does not depend on the facts, but on the party affiliation," Šabić points out.
The opposition also spoke out.
Natalija Stojmenović, president of the committee group of the Green-Left Front and the Movement of Free Citizens in the Belgrade Assembly, said on Tuesday (September 9) that the President of the City Assembly, Nikola Nikodijević, has 15 days to launch an initiative and schedule a session on the dismissal of Mayor Aleksandar Šapić.
She added that if Nikodijević doesn't do it, they, as a committee group, will poker the dismissal of both of them.
Šabić, on the other hand, believes that Nikodijević will not initiate proceedings and advises ZLF and PSG councilors to collect a third of the councilors' signatures and, in accordance with the statute, submit a reasoned proposal for the dismissal of Šapić. In that case, Nikodijević is under an indisputable obligation to put it on the agenda.
