The Higher Court in Podgorica today announced a first-instance verdict in a repeated court proceeding, acquitting former Telekom leaders Oleg Obradović and Miodrag Ivanović of the charge that, as co-perpetrators, they abused their position to obtain a benefit of 2,3 million euros from the London-based company Rawleigh Trading under a fictitious contract for consulting services for researching the telecommunications market, to the detriment of Monet and Telekom.
The first-instance verdict was pronounced today by Judge Nenad Vujanović.
The previous verdict pronounced in June 2022 was acquittal, but the Court of Appeal of Montenegro overturned it and remanded it for retrial.
In the explanation of the verdict, the judge said that during the proceedings it was not proven that the accused Obradović and Ivanović, by prior agreement and with intent, abused their position in terms of disposing of someone else's property and thus damaged Telekom for several million.
Judge Vujanović said that what the defendants Ivanović and Obradović are charged with in the indictment and its factual description has not been proven.
He stated that during the proceedings it was proven that a meeting of the Board of Directors of Montenegrin Telecom was held on April 27, 2005, at which a unanimous decision was made to sign a contract for the provision of consulting services with the company Rolly from London. The court also unequivocally concluded that the contract was signed on October 27 of the same year.
It was also established that Monet, a subsidiary of Telekom, paid 460.000 euros and 1.840.000 euros to the company Roli on two occasions through a bank account in Switzerland. The court concluded that Ivanovic and Obradovic were not responsible for abusing their position by approving the disputed payment, based on the fact that the orders for the payment of this money were signed by the former financial directors of Telekom and Monet, Andras Dunai and Eszter Kocsadij, in addition to them.
Judge Vujanović explained that the court did not examine whether the work carried out by the Roli company was worth as much as it was paid for market research because the Special Prosecutor's Office did not raise this issue in the indictment. The court is not in dispute that the analysis of the telecommunications market in Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Montenegro, was carried out because, according to witnesses, the reports on that work were taken from Montenegro by plane to Hungarian Telecom.
The court also pointed to the testimony of witnesses from Hungary who explained that not a single euro would have been paid to the Roli company if the contract had not been fulfilled.
"After conducting the evidentiary procedure, the court could only conclude one thing, that the company Roli fulfilled its contractual obligations towards the company Crnogorski Telekom," said Judge Vujanović.
Lawyer Zoran Piperović, the defendants' defense attorney, told "Vijesti":
"Today, Judge Nenad Vujanović acquitted Oleg Obradović and Miodrag Ivanović in the now-former "Telekom" affair, which once shook Montenegro and which every politician, both new and old, used to blame whenever something didn't go his way. The most striking thing that comes to mind now is that in 2018, the SDT offered to make a plea agreement under which the defendants Obradović and Ivanović would each receive two years in prison and pay damages of 800.000 euros to the state. Of course, the defense refused. I told the SDT that I would see you in the trial. Finally, and I hope definitively, the harassment of these two men and their families, which lasted for a full 20 years, has been put to an end."
At the trial in April 2019, presenting their defense before the High Court, former Telekom leaders Oleg Obradović and Miodrag Ivanović denied accusations that they had damaged Telekom by abusing their official position.
Obradović denied the allegations in the indictment that, together with Ivanovic, he abused his official position to obtain a benefit of 2,3 million euros for the company "RawleighTrading" from London under a fictitious contract for consulting services for researching the telecommunications market in Southeast Europe.
"The contract with the company 'Rawleigh Trading' to conduct market research in Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Montenegro, was signed seven months after 'Telekom' of Montenegro was privatized, that is, sold to Hungarian Telecom. Since March 15, 2005, 'Telekom' has been a private company and is managed by a board of directors consisting of five Hungarians, a representative of the American fund KKR, Slavko Caričić, and myself, who chaired this board," Obradović explained.
He added that this board of directors managed the companies Monet and Internet, which were 100% owned by Telekom Montenegro. "The companies Monet and Internet had their own executive directors, but they were managed by the Telekom board of directors," Obradović explained.
He added that the engagement of the company for market research in the countries surrounding Montenegro was initiated by Deutsche Telekom, which owns Magyar Telekom.
"The five-year business plan adopted by the Germans and Hungarians includes a plan to expand 'Mađar Telekom' into the countries of the region. Due to its good strategic position, the plan was to enter these markets through Montenegro, but it was necessary to examine these markets beforehand. At the request of the Hungarians, we proposed the Belgrade consulting company CES MEKON. The Hungarians agreed with our choice," explained Obradović.
He added that, due to his participation in the privatization of "Telekom Srbija", Ces Mekon requested that the company "RawleighTrading" /Rowling/ sign a contract on their behalf to study the markets in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro so as not to jeopardize the business with the Serbian telecom. He explained that he did not make the decision to conclude that contract, nor did he himself decide that the company "Rowling" should conduct the analysis, but that the decision was made by the board of directors of "Telekom Crne Gore" with the consent of the most responsible persons from "Mađar Telekom".
"The indictment should not have been filed because the company "Rawleigh Trading" /Rouling/ fully completed the agreed work of examining the markets of neighboring countries, about which there are reports," said Obradović, presenting his defense. He emphasized that he has been enduring media harassment for 14 years, and that his children are growing up with the "Telekom" affair.
Defendant Miodrag Ivanović, presenting his defense in April 2019, confirmed the allegations of Obradović's defense regarding the procedures for making decisions on signing contracts and issuing payment orders.
He stated that he was not involved in negotiating the deal with Rowling, but that it was done by Tomas Marloj and Paul Kustra, who were in charge of strategic issues at the company.
"I was later involved in everything because I was the head of "Moneto" which was supposed to make the payment. The contract was approved unanimously and no one ever raised a problem or considered it to be a fraud. At the moment when the management of "Rouling" fulfilled its obligations, the payment invoice was signed after verification by the director of financial control of "Moneto", then the financial director of Moneto and then the director of finance of Telekom Crne Gore. Only after these three signatures was the invoice brought to me for signature and forwarded to the chairman of the board of directors of Montenegrin Telekom," said Ivanović at the time.
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