The seizure of three million euros from the transaction account of "Airport of Montenegro" in Atlas Bank, during the bankruptcy proceedings, was the robbery of the century, said Duško Knežević, the defendant in the Airports case.
The trial in this case continued today in the High Court.
The bankruptcy administrator of "Atlas banka" Mirko Radonjić was heard before the court in the capacity of the accused company "Atlas banka" AD Podgorica.
"The indictment is unacceptable and there is no evidence that the mentioned company committed the criminal offense for which it is charged and that it is not guilty. "Atlas Bank" received an order from the High Court to withdraw three million euros from the transaction account of the Airport of Montenegro. "I have no direct knowledge of this case, until the moment I was hired," said Radonjić.
Answering the questions of the lawyer Andrijana Razić, the defense attorney of the accused Knežević, Radonjić said that in the Special Prosecutor's Office, he gave a statement only related to this case with the prosecutor Lidija Vukčević.
He stated that he had no information at the time that the bank would also be prosecuted. He added that his obligation as a bankruptcy administrator was to take care of the interests of the creditors of "Atlas Bank".
"I am the bankruptcy administrator and I am behind everything. I ordered the employees to act according to the order of the court and they acted properly, fulfilling their obligations", said Radonjić.
When asked by lawyer Dusan Radosavljević, he said that he did not file an appeal against the mentioned decision of the court.
Lawyer Radosavljević asked whether the Law on Liquidity Assets allowed money to be given from the bankruptcy estate, as was done by order of the then investigative judge Vladimir Novović.
"Those three million were confiscated by order of the investigating judge of the High Court. They are kept in the vault of the Central Bank of Montenegro. "I had daily communication with the bankruptcy committee, but I can't remember if I informed them about the confiscation of three million before or after," he said.
The defense pointed out that the order of the then investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica, Vladimir Novović, to confiscate the said money during the investigation phase, was issued illegally because, among other things, the bank was in bankruptcy.
The president of the council of judges, Nenad Vujanović, told Knežević that he can only ask questions related to this court proceeding, but not to other proceedings that are being conducted against him, because this is not a hearing related to other cases.
Judge Vujanović indicated that he allows the accused to testify during the proceedings even more than is required by law. He explained everything with the aim of ensuring that no one is harmed in the process and that everyone's rights are respected to the maximum extent. However, the judge said that he cannot allow behavior in the courtroom that is inappropriate and not allowed under the CPC.
Zečević: I didn't do anything on my own, for a long time we didn't get an answer from the Airport whether they wanted to reschedule
Accused Dijana Zečević denied the allegations of the indictment and her guilt. She emphasized several times that she acted in accordance with the law. She emphasized that she did nothing on her own.
"Our strategic plan aimed to collect as many deposits as possible, this is important for the bank's liquidity. It was also important for us to have large depositors such as "Airports", because that way small depositors also get security. I was the deputy executive director in my sector, who was not even appointed. That's why I communicated with the CEO. According to the plan, up to 100.000 euros, the director can decide on transactions himself", said Zečević.
She explained that when the money deposit scheduled by "Airports" was outstanding, she contacted her superiors with the aim of informing them about the situation and asking the client if he wanted to reschedule. She stated that they had been without a response from the client for a long time, and that later they received a letter about "giving up rescheduling".
"How can someone give up rescheduling if he has not given consent for the same", she believes. She added that none of the employees of "Atlas Bank" worked to gain any illegal benefit or harm anyone.
"We didn't depend on those three million euros, because we had to have a lot of money because we didn't know when someone would ask to withdraw money. Since 2017, when the controls started, a large number of natural persons have asked to withdraw money, and we have met all of them. We have not misused a single cent from anyone, not even from "Arerodorm". We did good business with them, and I get the impression that they had confidence in the bank because they did not initiate any obligation procedure", emphasized Zečević.
She added that they did not "touch" the three million that was a deposit from "Aerodrom", term funds.
Lawyer Andrijana Razić said that she got the impression that Mirko Radonjić acted unprofessionally.
"He worked directly to the detriment of "Atlas Bank" and the creditors of that bank. In addition, it is clear from his answer that he does not even know the provisions of the law on bankruptcy and liquidation of the bank, nor his duties prescribed by law", according to lawyer Razić.
Lawyer Radosavljević stated that the order of the then investigative judge Vladimir Novoić to withdraw three million euros from the transaction account of "Aerodrom" in "Atlas Bank" was illegal.
The Special Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the former managers of "Atlas Banka", Duško Knežević, Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević, and the legal entity "Atlas Banka" because, according to the indictment, they damaged "Aerodrome Montenegro" for three million euros, and "Atlas" obtained the benefit bank" in the same amount, because they did not return the deposit of three million euros, after the deadline expired.
According to the Special Prosecutor's Office, the former owner of Atlas Bank, Duško Knežević, is accused of inciting his employees Nikolić and Zečević to abuse their position in business operations, i.e. to embezzle the funds of JP Aerodrom after the expiry of the deposit term.
"From the defense of the defendants Nikolić and Zečević, and the testimony of witnesses Danil Orlandić, Vesna Ječmenica and Milica Ivanović, it indisputably follows that the deadline for the deposit in question expired on August 11, 2018, and that the injured company "Aerodromi Crne Gore" repeatedly demanded and gave instructions that the said funds in the amount of EUR 3.000.000 should be returned to the transaction account of the injured company after the expiration of the deadline. However, this did not happen," states the prosecutor in the explanation of the indictment.
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