Former CEO of Atlas Bank Mihailo Banjevic, He said yesterday that he did not remember dealing with carbon credits, nor did he remember giving a statement to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) on this matter.
Testifying in the continuation of the trial of Duško Knežević and other defendants in the "carbon credits" case, he told the president of the special chamber, Judge Igor Đuričković, that he learned about the case from the newspaper.
"I was the CEO of Atlas Bank for a period of time, while I was also on the boards of directors and managed seven or eight of them within the Atlas Group, but which were not related to the processing of carbon credits. I don't remember this case. I am 76 years old. It's been a long time"...
Responding to the court's question, he also said that he did not remember giving a statement to the special prosecutor on that occasion: "No, by God, I do not remember giving a statement to the SDT."
"I don't remember anything about the Atlas Bank business. It was 15 years ago. I can't remember what happened five or six months ago. I learned about this case from the media. As for the 'carbon credit', it is possible that there were classic banking transactions between IBM Bank and Atlas Bank. I had no involvement in the Global Carbon business... but it had classic banking transactions with Atlas Bank, but I can't remember. I can't even remember giving a statement to the SDT," Banjević said.
Judge Đuričković then read his statement from May 18, 2019, in which Banjević stated, among other things, that from January 2006 to January 2007 he was the executive director of Atlas Bank, and that he definitively left the Atlas Group in 2014.
He said that the president of the Atlas Group was Duško Knežević and that IBM Bank and Atlas Bank were not 100 percent owned by Knežević.
"I was the vice president for finance, and Manolina Bašović was in charge of legal matters. My function was advisory. I was verbally appointed by Duško Knežević. I did not make any business decisions. I did not give instructions to Brankica Bašović. She never asked me whether a loan should be taken out," he said in a statement to the SDT.
The special prosecutor states in the indictment that Knežević organized a criminal group during 2008, which, he writes, stems from the statements of the defendants' defense as well as from the statements of the cooperating witness Đorđe Đurđić.
He then answered the court's questions.
"The passage of time is too long. I cannot remember this statement. I do not dispute its contents. I have been questioned before the SDT many times," the witness said.
"I was the president of the Board of Directors of Atlas Television. I read in the newspaper a statement by Tatjana Obradović, the executive director of RTV Atlas. I don't see anything controversial about what Tanja did. It's possible that's what happened. She took out a loan from IBM Bank to pay salaries at Atlas Television. She informed me after she took out a loan from IBM Bank to pay the salaries due to employees. That's what it seems to me. I don't remember talking to Tanja Obradović. Age takes its toll," Banjević said.
There were no questions or objections to his testimony.
During 2008, the defendant Duško Knežević organized a criminal organization on the territory of Montenegro that operated until the end of 2017, whose members included the other defendants, as well as Đorđe Đurđić - a cooperating witness in this case.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that Knežević, Predrag Dašić, Zoran Nikolić, Brankica Bašović and Biljana Bašović caused damage to the legal entity "Global Karbon" DOO Podgorica, and obtained unlawful benefits in the amount of 1.942.000 euros from the legal entities "Fin invest", "Atlas group", RTV "Atlas", "RT Mimoza", "Atlas system" and "Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited".
The trial is scheduled to continue on March 10.
Bonus video:
