The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) left it to their colleagues in Kotor to investigate whether the Budva coffers were relieved by at least one million euros, and whether any of the leaders or employees committed a criminal offense during the calculation and collection of utilities for the reconstruction and extension of the "Avala" hotel.
This was told to "Vijesti" in the prosecutor's office headed by Milivoje Katnić.
"We inform you that the SDT in the aforementioned case, in the part related to the decision of the Municipality of Budva and the collection of communal taxes to the investor "Beppler & Jacobson Montenegro" DOO Budva, after the collected data and notification, submitted the case files to the jurisdiction of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Kotor for evaluation whether the actions of a person acquire the elements of the criminal offense of negligent work in the service from Article 417 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, which is under the jurisdiction of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Kotor," said special prosecutor Sanja Jovićević in response to a question from "Vijesti".
SDT "Vijesta" did not answer whether the owner of "Avala", Russian businessman Igor Lazurenko, as well as the former mayor of Budva, Lazar Rađenović, who managed the city at the time when utilities were charged for the reconstruction and extension of the elite hotel, were investigated in the context of the case. .
As emphasized, the SDT points to the presumption of innocence provided for by the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which implies that everyone is considered innocent until his guilt is established by a final court decision.
Back in May 2018, the head of the Special Police Team, Dragan Radonjić, asked the then mayor of Budva, Dragan Krapović, for the names of municipal officials who, from 2010 to the end of 2015, calculated utilities for the Budva hotel "Avala".
The documentation was submitted after SDT investigators formed a case investigating whether Igor Lazurenko's company "Beppler & Jacobson Montenegro" damaged the coffers of the Municipality of Budva by not paying utility bills.
Back then, Krapović's administration also submitted to Katnić's team the Rulebook on internal organization and systematization that refers to the Secretariat for Investments and the Service for the Collection of Fees for Communal Equipment of Construction Land, or other services that performed these tasks in the five-year period, in which it is alleged that million dollar debt of the "Avala" hotel.
The investigators insisted that they be provided with a list of the names of the municipal officials who determined and calculated the amount of compensation for the communal equipment of the building land for the reconstruction and upgrading of the hotel.
The prosecutors questioned whether the then first man of Budva, Lazar Rađenović, helped Lazurenka's company to pay a smaller amount by annexing the contract on utility payments.
The debt of the "Avala" hotel eight years ago amounted to 4.871.209 euros, but the then owners of the company that manages the hotel reached an agreement with the Municipality to pay 4.041.037,50 euros in fees for the communal equipment of the construction land.
Despite the agreement on the settlement of the debt, they did not pay a single cent to the local coffers until December 2014, which is why the Municipality of Budva took 1.800.000 euros from their account through forced collection.
"The procedure for compulsory collection of unpaid obligations based on the fee for communal equipment of the construction land of the Municipality of Budva at the expense of 'Beppler&Jacobson Montenegro' in the amount of 3.911.037 euros is being initiated. On March 26, 2012, the company 'Beppler & Jacobson Montenegro' addressed the Municipality of Budva with a request to determine the compensation. The Secretariat for Investments submitted a calculation for the amount of 4.041.037,5 euros. Based on the advance payment agreement dated August 20, 2012, you paid EUR 55.000, and on July 30, 2012, EUR 75.000. Please pay the difference in the amount of 10 euros within 3.911.037 days, because otherwise we will be forced to take compulsory collection measures", it is written in the then decision signed by the head of the municipal service Cvetko Pajković.
On the last day of 2014, the Municipality of Budva blocked the account of that company and charged 1.800.000 euros.
The prosecution is investigating why the then municipal management unblocked the account of Lazurenko's company only a month later and agreed with them to pay the rest of the debt in four equal installments over the next four months, and then canceled that agreement.
Allegedly, although the company did not pay any installments, in June 2015 the municipality and the owners of the elite hotel made a new contract, according to which their debt was reduced by more than one million euros.
A contract was concluded with the company "Beppler & Jacobson Montenegro" according to which they owed 2.900.000 euros, with the provision that the part that was forcibly collected by blocking the account should be deducted from that amount.
According to the documentation that "Vijesti" had access to, the Municipality of Budva "settled" with Lazuren's company 130.000 euros for the alleged costs of the representation and 380.000 euros for the costs that the hotel owners allegedly invested in the construction of the substation.
In the middle of June of that year, Lazurenko's company paid 200.000 euros into the municipal coffers, it is written in the documentation submitted to "Vijesta".
A well-informed interlocutor of "Vijesti" claims that, along with 1.800.000 forcibly collected, this is the only money that the Municipality "extracted" from the company "Beppler & Jacobson Montenegro".
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