The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica received the "Meljine" case from the Special State Prosecutor's Office, in which the investigation against the owner of the Atlas Group Duško Knežević, the former director of the hospital Budimir the apprentice and his assistant Radivoje Božović opened at the end of December 2020, due to the suspicion that by illegally placing a mortgage on the hospital complex near Herceg Novi, they abused their official position.
Head of VDT Podgorica Beautiful Pelenica, in her reply to "Vijesta" she confirmed that the Special State Prosecutor's Office, after the change of jurisdiction, submitted a larger number of cases, including the "Meljina" case.
"The case was formed against DK and other persons, due to the criminal offense of abuse of position in business operations, in which case the Special State Prosecutor's Office issued an order to conduct an investigation. After a detailed analysis of the evidence collected so far in the case, other necessary actions will be taken, all with the aim of making a decision in the case", said Medenica.
The then special prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, at the time he was in charge of SDT Milivoje Katnic, opened an investigation towards the end of 2020 against businessman Duško Knežević, the former executive director of the hospital in Meljine Budimir Šegrt and his deputy Radivoj Božović on suspicion that by illegally placing a mortgage on the property of the Meljine hospital, its value was reduced by 11.303.210,75 euros.
The day after the order of the SDT, Božović and Šegrt were arrested, who after working in "Meljine" advanced to the position of Minister of Health in the Government of the then Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, then Knežević spoke from London and made accusations that Šegrt was allegedly "one of the main people who destroyed the Meljine hospital".
"From the first moment, the apprentice was proposed as director by Milo Đukanović. He guarded Đukanović's shares in various projects, such as the drug factory in Mareza, and later he guarded Đukanović's interests in the project with Meljini," said Knežević.
At the suggestion of the prosecutor Vukčević, the High Court issued a decision prohibiting the disposal of immovable and movable property of the former military hospital complex in Meljine, with the aim of indemnifying the state of Montenegro, and on two occasions bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in the Meljine hospital by decision of the Commercial Court.
Based on the information provided by the Privatization Council, the prosecution found evidence that the Atlas Group, after purchasing the complex, took out a loan of 11 million euros and mortgaged the hospital's facilities, which was in violation of the Privatization Agreement concluded in 2008. with the Government.
In 2008, Knežević's "Atlas Group" became the owner of a valuable complex of a former military hospital with 50 square meters and 19 buildings, which the Atlas consortium bought for 25 million euros, however, it is believed that this price was formally on paper, but in fact the consortium paid twice the lower price.
According to the contractual obligations, the buyer was supposed to give 119 million in seven years, however, that did not happen, but only three million euros were invested in the complex. Because of this fact, on July 29, 2016, the Government sent the Atlas Group consortium a notice of contract termination.
Even in the first years of privatization, it was suspected that the government favored the buyer of the Meljina military complex by allowing him to pay for the property with bonds, which the investor, as it turned out later, bought on the stock market at three times the price that the government admitted to him during the transaction.
Data from the Central Depository Agency show that Duško Knežević's related companies intensively bought restitution bonds on the stock market, so at the beginning of 2008, related companies had nine million of these bonds, and at the end of that year they had over 16,5 million.
With this, it is believed, the Government enabled the Atlas Group to achieve a multi-million profit, and on the other hand, the public interest was damaged, which is why the medical center in Meljina, which was founded way back in 1668, due to poor privatization, lack of investment and poor management, is in bankruptcy of the Commercial Court.
After the privatization, at the end of 2009, the consortium formed a special company "Meljine Complex" and at the beginning of 2010 hired experts who assessed the value of the location. Based on these reports, a decision was made to increase non-monetary capital in the amount of 56,1 million euros, which was later used to mortgage the property.
For years, all real estate has been subject to temporary measures, mortgages, records of proceedings, various notary records and tax claims...
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