The trial in the "Aerodromi" case, against defendant Duško Knežević, who is accused of damaging "Aerodromi Crne Gore" to the tune of three million euros with Atlas Bank directors Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević, continued at the Higher Court in Podgorica with the hearing of witness Vesna Ječmenica, assistant executive director for finance at PE "Aerodromi Crne Gore".
For almost three hours, the witness spoke about whether there was a request from "Aerodrom" to "Atlas Bank" for funds in the amount of three million euros.
She answered numerous questions from defense attorneys, the court, and the special prosecutor.
Her hearing will continue on March 11th.
Lawyer Borivoje Đukanović read an email that Milica Ivanović, an employee of the company "Aerodromi Crne Gore", sent to the now-deferred Dijana Zečević, in which she requested that funds in the amount of three million euros be re-deposited for another year.
Witness Vesna Ječmenica said in her statement to the SDT that this was a clumsy formulation used by Milica Ivanović. She said that she was Ivanović's superior and that without her knowledge, she could not have done anything.
"Director Danilo Orlandić had to make a decision. There was no director's decision on the re-termination of funds. Milica Ivanović was not authorized and could not act independently without the director's decision. The director's decision on the re-termination did not exist, nor did I give Milica an order. That email was not relevant to me, nor did I understand the significance of the email that it meant accepting the offer for re-termination. Milica is not authorized to request the re-termination of the deposit," the witness stated at the main hearing.
A similar response was given to a question from lawyer Andijana Razić, Knežević's defense attorney.
"Neither I nor Milica were authorized. I was her superior and I don't know where Milica came from in this story. I did not talk to Director Orlandić about the email that Milica sent requesting the re-termination of the deposit. I informed him that the contract expired on August 11, 2018. I do not remember how Orlandić told me that he would not sign the annex contract on the re-termination. Probably verbally. The funds in the amount of just over three million euros are now in the Central Bank of Montenegro," she replied.
Attorney Bojana Franović Kovačević, defense attorney for the accused Dijana Zečević, asked whether it had happened in practice before that term deposits whose contracts had expired were returned without a request from "Aerodrom".
"On January 2018, XNUMX, 'Atlas Bank' returned the funds to us whose contract had expired, without a request from 'Aerodrom'," said Vesna Ječmenica.
Lawyer Franović Kovačević denied the witness's allegations.
"This is not true. I have a copy of her email from January 03, 2018, addressed to Dijana Zečević, and it refers to a contract that has expired. Where, after the contract expires, she asks for the funds to be transferred to the "Aerodrom" account. The email was also sent to Nikola Vujačić," said Kovačević.
After being shown a copy in the courtroom, she said.
"I do not dispute the content of the email," Ječmenica replied.
Judge Nenad Vujanović then stated: "It now follows that the funds were not returned without contacting 'Aerodrom'."
At the very beginning of her testimony, Ječmenica pointed out that the deposit agreement expired on August 11, 2018, without rescheduling, and that the next day, three million euros should have been automatically transferred to the transaction account of "Aerodrom", which "Atlas Bank" did not do.
The Special Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against former managers of "Atlas Banka" Duško Knežević, Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević, and the legal entity "Atlas Banka". According to the indictment, the defendants damaged "Aerodromes Crne Gore" for three million euros, and obtained a benefit for "Atlas Banka" in the same amount, because they did not return a deposit of three million euros after the term deposit 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 3.000.000 euros should be returned to the transaction account of the injured company after the expiry of the term.
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