The indictment in the case against the accused former members of the board of directors and the executive director of "Plantaža - July 13" will not be filed within the legal term of six months, because the expert opinion of the economic and financial profession by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office has not yet been completed.
Acting prosecutor and spokesperson of SDT Vukas Radonjic he confirmed to "Vijesti" that the investigation is still ongoing.
"Investigation in the case against the defendants of individual responsible persons - former members of the Board of Directors and the executive director of the damaged company 'Plantaže - July 13', for the criminal offense of abuse of position in business operations, which was determined on July 15 and extended on August 25 last year, it has not yet been completed because the ordered economic and financial expertise has not been carried out", Radonjić wrote in the answer.
On July 11, 2022, the officers of the Special Police Department arrested the members of the board of directors on the order of the SDT Veselin Vukotić, Boža Mihailović, Djordje Rajković, Sead Shahman, Duško Perović i Anica Hajduković, who were suspected of abuse of position in business during the conclusion of the settlement agreement with the company "OMP Engineering".
Hajduković was released the same day to defend herself, and later the SDT suspended the investigation against her, while Vukotić, Mihailović, Rajković, Šahman and Perović were in the Investigation Prison in Spuz for months.
On August 25, SDT expanded the investigation during which the former executive director was arrested Verica Marash because of the suspicion that she abused her position in business operations and that she caused damage to "Plantaža" of around five million euros...
The arrests followed a few months after the new management of "Plantaža - July 13" filed a criminal complaint claiming that the members of the board of directors, by exploiting their official position, i.e. by abusing their position in business operations, obtained illegal financial benefits for others, and caused damage to the company - acting in an organized manner as members of a criminal group.
After the first arrests in connection with embezzlement in the former Crmogorsk giant, the SDT announced that there is a well-founded suspicion that they have committed the criminal offense of abuse of position in business operations from Art. 272 st. 3 in connection with para. 1 of the Criminal Code.
"Because as members of the board of directors, they made a decision to conclude a harmful contract on out-of-court settlement between the injured company in '13. July - Plantaže' AD and 'OMP Engineering' from Podgorica, the partial execution of which caused damage to the injured company, and 'OMP Engineering' obtained a benefit", says the announcement of SDT.
During the expansion of the investigation, Maraš is suspected of having a part in the conclusion of a harmful out-of-court settlement between "Plantaž" and the company "OMP Engineering", related to the joint production of briquettes and the establishment of a joint briquette factory, which never took off.
During the preparation of business documents during the settlement procedure between "Plantaž" and "OMP Engineering", and after the failed deal with the briquette factory, the state company undertook to provide the company, which was 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.
SDT previously unofficially said that they had proposed and then adopted the harmful settlement by the majority of the Board of Directors of "Plantaža" at the time, even though litigation between the two companies was ongoing before the Commercial Court in Podgorica for the purpose of compensation for damages according to the claim and counterclaim. in which all the evidence and statements of experts were in favor of the state company.
During the litigation 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-owned company. According to experts, "Plantaže" should have received compensation of around 3,5 million euros, but they agreed to compensate the opposite party with 1,4 million. The value of the ceded salary, estimated at a little over a million euros at the time, is also questionable.
In 2009, the company "Plantaže", Montenegrin pride for decades, announced a public call in which they were looking for a partner for the briquette factory. "OMP Engineering", a company that was founded exactly three days after the announcement of the advertisement, responded.
In July 2011, a ceremonial opening of the factory was organized - in front of the cameras, the red ribbon was cut by the then mayor of Podgorica Miomir Mugoš and Verica Maraš. Despite the big plans, the production of briquettes was never started even though "Plantaže" and a private company invested 1.467.029,02 euros in money and land in the factory, while the contribution of "OMP Engineering" was 1.278,674,47 euros.
In 2014, "OMP Engineering" initiated a lawsuit against "Plantaž", where at the beginning a compensation of six million euros was requested, claiming that "Plantaž" offered low-quality vines and in insufficient quantities, while this state-owned company subsequently initiated a counterclaim, claiming that "OMP Engineering" installed equipment in the joint factory that is not suitable for grapevine processing.
During the proceedings in the Commercial Court, an expert in the field of mechanical engineering Goran Dedic made a finding in favor of "Plantaž". He determined that the equipment of "OMP Engineering", which was their stake, could not be used in that type of production at all.
Despite this opinion of the expert, the former management of "Plantaž" initiated the settlement procedure in 2020, and the company's lawyers Ana Đukanović i Marko Hajduković have canceled the power of attorney.
"The conclusion of such a settlement is even more surprising and worrying given the fact that the findings and opinions of experts in the mechanical, economic and agricultural professions, as well as the statements of your management and your employees, were entirely in favor of 'Plantaž,'" warned lawyers Đukanović and Hajduković.
The judge in the multi-year dispute before the Commercial Court was the arrested former president Blazo Jovanić.
At the request of the new management of "Plantaž" at the end of 2021, the proceedings before the Commercial Court between "OMP Engineering" and "Plantaž" were renewed, because the new management did not want to implement the settlement agreement due to the suspicion that the agreement is harmful to the company.
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