Montenegro’s sustainable development and tourism minister Pavle Radulovic resigned on November 1 after a video showing inspectors fom his ministry taking a bribe was released.

This is the first case of a Montenegrin minister resigning due to corruption in state institutions. Montenegro has been urged to take more decisive steps towards the fight against corruption and organised crime.

In the video, broadcast by TV Vijesti a day earlier, the two inspectors are demanding a bribe from a businessman who wants to continue construction of a building in the coastal town of Budva despite the expiration of his permit.

Radulovic told reporters in Podgorica that disciplinary proceedings had already been implemented before the release of the video, but none of the inspectors has been punished. He also said he would resign as he has failed to eradicate this type of behaviour, according to a broadcast of the press conference by RTCG.

A day later, the two inspectors were arrested after Radulovic initiated a new procedure against them.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dusko Markovic criticised the lack of reaction by the prosecution after the police filed the case with the state prosecutor’s office.