It has not been proven that they damaged Telekom for 2,3 million

After a comprehensive and careful analysis of the evidence, the court unequivocally concluded that it was not proven that they were Oleg Obradovic i Miodrag Ivanovic committed criminal acts.

This was announced by the judge, among other things Evica Durutović, explaining the acquittal of the former Telekom executives.

They are accused of having, as co-perpetrators, by abuse of position, obtained a benefit of 2,3 million euros to the company "Rawleigh Trading" from London in the name of a fictitious contract on consulting services for telecommunications market research, to the detriment of "Moneta" and "Telekom".

"In the court proceedings, a large number of evidence from the prosecutor and the defense, as well as those obtained by the court, were presented, all in order to establish decisive facts. After a comprehensive and careful analysis of the evidence, the court unequivocally concluded that it was not proven that Obradović and Ivanović committed criminal acts. I emphasize, it is not proven. The court judges only what is charged against the defendants. It was unequivocally established that the IV session of the board of directors of 'Telekom' was held, at which the proposal to conclude a contract on the provision of consulting services from the company 'Rouling' was adopted. 'Telekom' approved that 'Monet' conclude the contract, and Obradović and Ivanović were authorized to sign it. The contract was concluded on October 27, 10, and the subject of the contract was to examine the market of Serbia, Republika Srpska, Kosovo and Albania. The firm 'Rouling' was in charge of the analysis and examination of the telecommunications market. For consulting services, an amount of EUR 2005 was paid on November 7, 11, and EUR 2005 on December 400.000, 28. At issue was whether 'Rowling' fulfilled the contractual obligation. Witnesses stated that the money would not have been paid if the contractual obligations had not been fulfilled. The court could only conclude one thing. The company 'Rouling' fulfilled its contractual obligation and submitted a report, so it was not proven that Obradović and Ivanović committed a criminal act," said Judge Durutović.

Defense: Expected decision

Defense counsel, lawyer Zoran Piperović, told reporters that the acquittal for the defense was absolutely expected.

"It is important to send a signal to those who will probably have objections after this decision. These are various NGOs and probably political parties. Two details were key in this case. Is there any ordered work between 'Mađar Telekom' and the company 'Rouling' and who paid the stated amount? It was undoubtedly established that neither Oleg Obradović nor Miodrag Ivanović paid the 2,3 million euros. The Hungarian witnesses came, the financial directors, who said that they paid them. Those were the two disputed facts that the court discussed. The defense expected this verdict. A different one could not be adopted", he said.

Piperović stated that in this country "it seems that no one can be freed".

"Here, the Criminal Procedure Code should be changed and no one should go free. Whoever is freed, everyone jumps, why did the court free him. Well, I guess the law regulated why someone should be released and when. Should someone be convicted even though there is no evidence. If we live in such a country, then it's ok. We don't even need a defense, but only a court to rule in order to satisfy some who boast of legality," said Piperović.

They denied the allegations

At the trial in April 2019, presenting their defense before the High Court, Obradović and Ivanović denied the accusations that they had damaged Telekom by abusing their official position.

"The contract with the company 'Rawleigh Trading' on market research in Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Montenegro was signed seven months after 'Telekom' of Montenegro was privatized, i.e. sold to Magyar Telecom. Since March 15, 2005, 'Telekom' has been a private company and it is managed by a Board of Directors consisting of five Hungarians, the representative of the American fund KKR Slavko Caričić and myself, who chaired this board," explained Obradović.

Then he added that that board of directors managed the companies Monet and Internet, which were XNUMX% owned by Telekom Crna Gora.

"The companies Monet and Internet had their own executive directors, but they were managed by the board of directors of Telekom", explained Obradović and added that the engagement of the company for market research in the countries surrounding Montenegro was initiated by "Deutsche Telekom", which is owned by "Mađar Telekom".

"In the five-year business plan, which was brought by the Germans and the Hungarians, there is a plan for the expansion of 'Mađar Telekom' in the countries of the region. Due to the good strategic position, the plan was to enter these markets through Montenegro, but it was necessary to examine these markets beforehand. At the request of the Hungarians, we proposed the Belgrade consulting firm Ces Mekon. The Hungarians agreed with our choice", explained Obradović.

He added that Ces Mekon, due to his participation in the privatization of "Telecom of Serbia", requested that the company "RawleighTrading" sign a contract on their behalf on market research in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, so as not to jeopardize the business with Serbian Telekom.

He explained that he did not make the decision to conclude that contract, and that he did not himself decide that the company "Rowling" should do the analysis, but that the decision was made by the Board of Directors of "Telecom of Montenegro", with the consent of the most responsible persons from "Mađar Telekom".

"The indictment should not have been filed because the company 'Rawleigh Trading' fully performed the agreed work of examining the markets of neighboring countries, as there are reports," Obradović said.

At that time, he emphasized that he has been enduring media harangue for 14 years and that his children are growing up with the "Telekom" affair.

Accused Miodrag Ivanović then confirmed all of Obradović's allegations and said that he did not participate in contracting the business with "Rowling", but that it was done by Tomaš Marloj and Pol Kuštra, who were in charge of strategic issues in the company.

"I was later involved in everything because I was in charge of 'Moneta', which was supposed to make the payment. The contract was adopted unanimously and no one ever made a problem or thought that it had been cheated. At the moment when "Rouling" fulfilled its obligations, the invoice for the payment after verification was signed by the finance control director of "Moneta", then the financial director of Moneta, and then the finance director of Telekom Crne Gore. "Only after those three signatures was the bill brought to me for signature and forwarded to the president of the board of directors of Crnogorski Telekom", Ivanović said.

They agreed to conclude a contract

At the trial of the former leaders of "Telekom" held in October 2019, the statements of representatives of "Mađar Telekom", who were members of the Board of Directors of Telekom Montenegro, were read in the High Court.

The essence of their statements, which they gave before the police authorities in Budumpešta, is that the defendants Oleg Obradović and Miodrag Ivanović had the consent of the Board of Directors of "Telekom" to conclude and sign the contract and to pay services from the "Moneta" account to the company "Rawleigh Trading"...

No distant doubts

Until recently, the chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić, at the beginning of 2019, announced that the president of the state, Milo Đukanović, and his sister, lawyer Ana Đukanović, were not involved in fraud related to the sale of Crnogorski Telekom.

He then told reporters that the investigation in that case was suspended in relation to the law office of Ana Đukanović, because they established that they provided consulting services for which they charged 580.000 euros.

"This office had a contract with Telekom Crne Gore after Telekom was bought, that is, privatized by Magyar Telekom, and after that they entered into an agreement with Magyar Telekom on certain legal, consulting and other services, and based on that contract, they fulfilled those consulting services and delivered the product, and Magyar Telekom paid them for it. We checked it, saw that there was no reasonable doubt that a criminal offense had been committed, and that part was suspended," said Katnić at the time.

At the same time, he said that the accused businessman Duško Knežević illegally earned more than 4,5 million euros from that job, at the expense of alleged consulting services, and that there are no "remote doubts" that Milo Đukanović participated in any criminal act related to the sale of Telekom.

"I nicely said where the money from Telekom went and who are the owners of those companies to the degree of reasonable suspicion... In relation to this person (Milo Đukanović), there is not even a remote doubt that he participated in any of this. Therefore, it is being investigated whether someone has committed a criminal offense... In this case, these are criminal offenses - abuse of authority in business operations, tax evasion, money laundering... If any money from these criminal offenses was used for the construction of any villa..., we will determine this through a financial investigation," he said.

In March 2014, the US Embassy officially confirmed that their Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had obtained evidence that there was bribery in Montenegro in the case of the privatization of Telekom. In April 2015, the prosecution received documentation from the US.

It follows from court documents in New York that the SEC claims that lawyer Đukanović received a bribe on behalf of Milo Đukanović's brother after the privatization of Telekom. The Djukanovics denied it.

From the documentation regarding the corruption lawsuit against the three directors of Magyar Telekom at the time, it appears that Obradović played one of the key roles in the process of concluding the contract between Sigma and Telekom, which the SEC claims was used for the alleged bribery of the "sister of the highest official".