State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Milos Medenica, he allegedly blackmailed Mladen Bulatović that he will legalize the hotel "Jovana" in Kolašin, if he signs and certifies with a notary that he will not sue the state for the profit lost during the 11 years he has been trying to register his facility.
Bulatović provided "Vijesta" with audio recordings on which blackmail can be heard, and claims that these are recordings of a conversation with Medenica and the president of the Mojkovac Municipal Board GP URA Boško Laketić, who, according to that hotelier, initiated the meeting.
"I call people and say 'here's this, find a solution'. And we got to the point where a man came to me and said: '...If we do this, this will require millions in compensation'... When I heard that, I said - let's see with Mladen, if he will sign that they won't sue us and we're going to legalize the facility for the man", can be heard on one of the recordings that Bulatović submitted to "Vijesta".
He claims that it is part of a conversation he had with Medenica and Laketić in a cafe in Podgorica, and that on that recording you can hear the state secretary blackmailing him to give up the lawsuit.
Medenica did not answer the questions of "Vijesti", and neither did the Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović.
Laketić denied Bulatović's accusations:
"I invite Mladen Bulatović to bring the accusations against Miloš Medenica and me, those who only wanted to help him, and he, it is now clear, to use them in order not to reach the desired goal, in front of the court if he wants them to have any meaning or to apologize publicly for what he said".
WAIVER IN FAVOR OF THE STATE
On the recordings submitted to "Vijesti", a male person can be heard saying that the complaint has reached them, and on one of them another voice, also male, tells him that "everyone is ready... and Koča... Just to guarantee". .. The same voice answers Bulatović that he must write that statement, but also that he thinks that "the story is a disaster" that he is being blackmailed in some way.
"So everyone is ready. And Koča (Đurišić, author's note) and all, I'm the only one to tell them that after the resolution of the registration, I will never ask for lost profits", says Bulatović, can be heard on one of the recordings.
The man, whom the businessman claims is Laketić, repeats what he needs to write.
"But you must also do this... You renounce. It's not that you don't deserve it, but you're giving up lost profits in favor of the state. In favor of the state".
"Yes Yes. In favor of the state, I understand what you said. And then nothing is disputed? They would register him immediately. They wouldn't wait for these vacations to pass", says Bulatović...
He tells the interlocutor to "ask" if they would register him immediately: "Let us open this summer", after which a man's voice asks him the question: "Are you ready for that?".
"Here let's see brother".
Bulatović built the "Jovana" hotel in Kolašin 11 years ago, which has not yet been opened due to problems with the registration of that building. He recently announced that he filed another criminal complaint against the officials of the Administration for Cadastre and State Property, i.e. their Regional Unit in Kolašin, explaining that he did so after recently receiving the seventh first-instance decision rejecting his request for certification of the report and registration of the object.
"After 12 years, I received the seventh negative and illegal decision from the Kolašin Cadastre, which is entirely based on falsification and concealment of key factual evidence, about which I appealed to the second instance authority, that is, the Ministry of Finance, to whom I submitted irrefutable evidence. I asked in the appeal that a decision be made on the merits, after 12 years. "When they read my complaint, Minister Damjanović's first man, State Secretary Miloš Medenica, got in touch with me through a courier, one Boško, whom he asked to meet with me," said Bulatović.
He explained that Boško is the president of the Mojkovac GP URA Board, Boško Laketić.
He claims that at the first meeting, Laketić conveyed to him the messages of the State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Miloš Medenica - that they should register the facility because the papers are clean, but that they require him to renounce the lost profits.
"And that I should go to the notary, that I should write it, that I should take it and if I don't know how to do it, that they in the Ministry of Finance should write it on my behalf, and that I should hand it in and have it certified by the notary that I renounce the lost profit, so that some people were saved", claims Bulatović.
When asked who should have been saved, he said the criminals who have been contesting the registration of the hotel for years.
Bulatović claims that after the agreement with Laketić on August 1, he met with him and Medenica in a bar in Podgorica.
"Miloš Medenica told me in front of the Ministry of Finance, as the State Secretary, that they had reviewed all the files of the twelve-year-old case - the hotel 'Jovana', that the documentation was clean and that his people from the Ministry said that it should be registered, that it should be certify the elaboration, but that they will have to pay me multi-million damages", said Bulatović.
He adds that Medenica told him how he told his colleagues that they should talk to him about giving up the lost profits.
"I asked him which people I should protect with such a statement, and he said those who should sign the decision in accordance with the law. Those people will not answer, the criminals will. It's organized crime. "If they are asking Mladen Bulatović to give up lost profits due to crime protection, they have come to the wrong address," he said.
He claims that his request has been legal and complete since 2012, but that the officials of the Cadastre Administration remained silent on all his urges.
He said that he had submitted numerous criminal reports to the Special State Prosecutor's Office and called on them to act on the matter of blackmail.
"The Secretary of State hired a courier, Boško, who first met with me, and he told me that I was being blackmailed in some way... I experienced this as a serious threat. After that I recorded the conversations to protect myself and to have evidence. The law allows me to record. I will also submit the videos that I submitted to the SDT and ask the chief special prosecutor Vladimir Novović and the head of the Special Police Department, Predrag Šuković, to react immediately," said the businessman.
Abazović: No one was given a mandate to work illegally
Prime Minister Dritan Abazović told "Vijesti" that no one in the public administration was given a mandate to work illegally, and that transparency must be a priority.
"No one has been given a mandate to work illegally and all civil servants have an obligation to exclusively protect the national interest of Montenegro. I believe that all the facts surrounding this case will be determined, starting with why it has not been possible to legalize one facility for more than a decade. Of course, respecting the procedures and legal solutions that are in force", said Abazović.
Laketić: We never blackmailed Bulatović
Laketić told "Vijesta" that he had known Bulatović "for about a year" and that during that period, they spoke several times in a friendly tone.
"Among other things, the problem that has been bothering him for more than 11 years now, related to his hotel 'Jovana'. In those conversations, he convinced me that there are no legal obstacles to opening the hotel, but the slowness, indolence or bad intentions of our institutions. "Understanding the suffering of him and his family, which has been going on for so many years, when he contacted me about a month or two ago, I tried to help him in the most friendly way so that his problem would be solved as soon as possible," explained Laketić.
He claims that this is why he invited the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Miloš Medenica, "to make a contribution in that direction."
"After which, on my initiative, Miloš Medenica, Mladen Bulatović and I met informally in order to have a friendly conversation with the new circumstances related to the case of the hotel 'Jovana', and after Mladen Bulatović filed a complaint with the Ministry of Finance against the negative decision of the Administration for cadastre and state property in Kolašin. I have never blackmailed Mladen Bulatović to give up the lawsuit for lost profits, which would have caused financial damage to the state, not even on the recommendation of Miloš Medenica. Miloš Medenica and Boško Laketić, who by virtue of their functions were never in a situation to solve the problem of the 'Jovana' hotel in one way or another, only wanted to speed up the solution of the problem by encouraging the competent authorities to make a decision as soon as possible exclusively in accordance with the laws." , said Laketić.
He pointed out that he is using this opportunity to invite the Ministry of Finance and the Administration for Cadastre and State Property of Montenegro to finally make a decision regarding that hotel after more than 11 years:
"Be it positive or negative".
"And from everything I know, I believe that if it is enacted in accordance with the law, it can only be positive. And I invite Mladen Bulatović to present the accusations against Miloš Medenica and me, those who only wanted to help him, and he, it is now clear, to use them in order not to reach the desired goal, in front of the court if he wants them to have any meaning. or to publicly apologize for what he said," said Laketić.
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