The trial of defendant Duško Knežević and other defendants in the "carbon credits" court case continued today at the Higher Court in Podgorica, and the planned hearing of witness collaborator Đorđe Đurđić was not held because he did not come to the scheduled trial.
The president of the special panel, Judge Igor Đuričković, said that there was no evidence in the case files that he had been served with a summons.
The defense attorney for the defendant Knežević, attorney Dražen Medojević, proposed to the court that the statement of the witness associate Đurđić, which he gave during the investigation at the SDT, be removed from the case file as legally invalid evidence.
He also proposed that the court issue a ruling that would revoke Đurđić's status as a cooperating witness. He explained in the proposal that in order to become a cooperating witness, he must be a member of a criminal organization.
"Which has the aim of committing criminal acts. In his statement before the SDT, Đurđić only talks about one loan, while for the others he says that he did not participate in any of them. If he were a member of a criminal organization, he would have been involved. It is clear that Đurđić was not a member of a criminal organization, because he would have known. And it is clear that he knew nothing. I propose that his status as a cooperating witness be revoked. During the interrogation in the investigation with the prosecutor, he did not mention the accused Dašić and Nikolić," said Medojević.
Supporting his colleague's proposal, Knežević's defense attorney, Dušan Radosavljević, added several facts.
"Đorđe Đurđić has the status of a cooperating witness in this case. In the second case against Knežević, he concluded a plea agreement, in the third court case he has the status of an ordinary witness, while in the fourth he also has the status of a cooperating witness. This is an absurd situation, that the same man has different criminal legal characteristics. Đurđić should not have been given the status of a cooperating witness," Radosavljević stated.
The defense attorney for the defendants Brankica and Biljana Bašović, attorney Bojana Franović Kovačević, joined her colleagues' proposal. She believes that the statement must be set aside as legally invalid evidence.
Special Prosecutor Miroslav Šoškić left the defense's proposals to the court to evaluate. He explained his position.
"The fact is that Đorđe Đurđić stated before the SDT on June 10, 2019: "I really cannot comment on the loans that were approved by IBM Bank to the legal entities "Fin Invest", "Atlas Group", "RTV Atlas", "RT Mimoza", and by Atlas Bank to the legal entity "Atlas Systems", as well as the deposit that served as collateral, and which loans were partially or fully returned from the deposit. I did not participate in any legal transaction of these loans," the prosecutor quoted the testimony of a cooperating witness.
"The fact is that the cooperating witness was heard after the court granted him the status of a cooperating witness. I leave it to the court to decide on the defense's proposals," said Šoškić.
Đuričković stated that the court will decide at one of the next hearings of the main trial, but before the hearing of Đorđe Đurđić begins.
The accused Zoran Nikolić submitted a written proposal to the court to discontinue the criminal proceedings against him due to the absolute statute of limitations. He stated that on February 25, 2025, the absolute statute of limitations had expired, as more than ten years had passed since the consequences of the committed offense arose. The court will submit this request to the SDT through official channels.
The indictment against Duško Knežević 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 euros from the legal entities "Fin Invest", "Atlas Grupa", RTV "Atlas", "RT Mimoza", "Atlas Sistem" and "Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited".
The trial continues on April 16.
Bonus video:
