The damage allegedly caused to the state is already measured in millions, but the figure is not final and is still being determined, claims a Vijesti source from the investigation into embezzlement in the "Plantaže" company.
Arrested members of the former Board of Directors of that state-owned company - Veselin Vukotić, Bož Mihailović, Duško Perović, Đorđi Rajković i Sead Shahman, after the hearing at the Special State Prosecutor's Office, he was detained for up to 72 hours.
Sixth arrested, Anica Hajduković she was released to defend herself in the further course of the proceedings.
They were heard yesterday in the SDT by a special prosecutor Vukas Radonjic, by whose order they were deprived of their liberty two days ago.
The prosecution suspects them of having committed a criminal offense - abuse of position in business operations, and after they were handcuffed, the SDT announced that they suspect them of having made a decision to conclude a harmful contract on an out-of-court settlement between a state-owned company - "13. jul Plantaže" and the private company "OMP Engineering".
"Through partial execution, damage was caused to the injured company, and 'OMP Engineering' benefited", explained STD.
One of the interlocutors of Vijesti, however, claims that it is very possible that the prosecution's charges will not stop there and that there is allegedly more documentation that shows that the suspects have also worked illegally in other cases. This has not been officially confirmed by SDT.
According to the information of Vijesta, all the suspects yesterday denied the commission of the criminal offense and presented their defense before the prosecutor.
The police first brought Božo Mihailović into the SDT building. His hearing began shortly before 8 a.m., after which he was returned to the concrete truck of the Podgorica police. The last one, Veselin Vukotić, was brought in by the police around 13:XNUMX p.m.
Mihailović's defense attorney, lawyer Marko Radovic, told Vijesti that he could not talk about the case, because the SDT had marked it as secret.
"My client presented his defense and denied guilt. The special prosecutor issued a decision on detention for up to 72 hours," he said.
Defense attorney of Shahman, lawyer Edvin Zverotić, confirmed that his client was also detained.
The news was unofficially told that the list of those arrested is not final, and that the SDT intends to expand the investigation against the former executive director of "Plantaža" as well. Verice Maraš and the former director of the Legal and General Affairs Sector Miroslav Vuković because of the suspicion that they, along with the arrested members of the former Board of Directors, abused their official position when concluding the settlement agreement with the company "OMP Engineering".
The opening of the investigation followed the completion of the investigation by the SDT, which formed the case after the new management filed a criminal complaint against Vukotić, Maraš, Mihailović and Vuković in February, due to suspicions that by exploiting and abusing their position, they obtained multimillion-dollar illegal property benefits for the company. OMP Engineering”.
During the preparation of business documents during the settlement procedure between "Plantaž" and "OMP Engineering" from March to April 2020, and after the failed deal with the briquette factory, the state company committed itself to the company, which they founded in 2009 Oleg Obradovic, Miodrag Ivanovic i Predrag Boskovic, who later went out of business, paid 350.000 euros and transferred ownership of 37.000 square meters of land in Donji Kokoti to them.
According to the contractual obligation, the company "OMP Engineering" undertook to transfer to "Plantaže" 50 percent of the share in the joint company "Plant OMP", which has never worked or generated any income.
During the voting at the then Board of Directors, the suspected members voted for such conclusion of the settlement, and the only member Simo Jovićević, in front of the then shareholder of Podgorička banka, was against the contract that harms the state-owned company.
According to "Vijesti", Jovićević will be one of the witnesses in the further criminal proceedings.
SDT unofficially said that they proposed and then adopted the harmful settlement by the majority of the Board of Directors of "Plantaža" at that time, even though there was a litigation proceeding before the Commercial Court in Podgorica between the two companies for compensation of damages according to the claim and counterclaim, in which all the evidence and statements of experts were in favor of the state-owned company with a history of over 55 years.
During the civil proceedings before the commercial court, the experts stated that the value of the money and land transferred to the company "OMP Engineering" amounted to at least 1,4 million euros in damage to the state company.
Đukanović: These are people who have always respected the legal system of the state
The President of Montenegro and the leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Milo Đukanović, said yesterday that he is in "very optimistic hope" that the suspicions about the arrested are not true.
He said that "a number of people who were called to the SDT due to suspicions that some of the tasks performed by the Board of Directors in that company were done illegally", for a significant period performed very responsible tasks in the state of Montenegro.
"And they represent very respectable people of this country, whether it's directors of large companies, whether it's university professors, officials of the monetary authority... That's something I've always had respect for, and I still do now. Starting from the presumption of innocence, I am still very optimistic that the suspicions that exist are not true, because my knowledge of these people tells me that my experience with them is very positive, that they are people who have always respected the legal system of Montenegro, that are people who took care of the interests of the entity they represented - in this case the company 'Plantaže'. Let's give the competent state bodies a chance to do their job," Đukanović told reporters after marking 50 years of work of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro.
He pointed out that prejudging is not welcome and that any such action by the holder of a state office, especially the head of state, could be understood as irresponsible and as a kind of pressure on the work of the prosecution and the judiciary.
"I believe in the state authorities and I believe that in a short period of time, respecting the interest of the public, they will come out with their view of this case, and that we will once again confirm that Montenegro is a country that has the capacity to establish the rule of law and in which it will be shown that we have independent and the professional judiciary, as an important pillar of the functioning of the state of Montenegro and the preservation of the human rights of each of its citizens", said Đukanović.
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