By identifying and reporting wrongdoing in public procurement, whistleblowers play a key role in ensuring public funds are not diverted by private interests and are used fairly and efficiently. In Serbia, an engineer from a local government enterprise discovered that without his knowledge, the company had awarded two contracts in the division he managed to the same supplier. Neither of the jobs involved a tender, and payment for one was made in advance despite the work never being carried out. After filing an internal whistleblowing report to no effect, the engineer made a criminal complaint to the public prosecutor – which was blocked by networks of contacts between the judiciary and local authorities. The public prosecutor’s response was delivered to him at work in an open envelope, and he was swiftly transferred to another office with a lower salary. Suspecting retaliation for his whistleblower reports, he contacted the ALAC at Transparency International Serbia.
The ALAC staff quickly helped him file for whistleblower protection in court and asked for reinstatement to his previous job and salary. Transparency International Serbia gathered the documentation through an access to information request, and their legal specialists drafted the whistleblower protection application with their expert opinion during the court hearing. The verdict is now overdue, even though the law stipulates that whistleblower protection procedures are urgent – offering a vital safety net for people like the engineer, who take a stand for transparent and accountable use of public funds.
Source: Transparency International
https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/whistleblower-stories-individuals-safeguarded-public-interest-exposing-misconduct?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-17-01-2025
