The Special State Prosecutor's Office claims that the defendant's company "Playmaker" Đorđija Đok Pavićević, suspected customs officers in the Free Zone of the Port of Bar Ivana Kovačević i Veljko Đuričić as well as two companies from the Philippines and Panama, by fictitious export of cigarettes from Montenegro to Africa, caused damage to the state of at least 2020 million euros in 350 alone by not paying customs duties, excise duties and taxes.
This information is stated in the files on the investigation conducted by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, but also in the summer's expansion of the investigation against the accused criminal organization, which is believed to have falsified the accompanying documentation in 11 rounds of maritime exports of 2020, and then 13 packages of cigarettes from Montenegro to Libya in the first 125.903 months of 327.518.
Special prosecutor and spokesperson of SDT Vukas Radonjic, who is leading the investigation into this extensive case, stated in a response to "Vijesti" that the investigation is not complete because evidence is still being collected in the process of international criminal legal assistance from the competent judicial authority of the United Kingdom.
The investigation, as Radonjić explained, is also ongoing due to financial expertise, which will determine the amount of damage to the budget due to non-payment of taxes and other duties on a total of 453.421 packs of cigarettes, for which there is a reasonable suspicion that they are the subject of smuggling.
"After obtaining this evidence, a decision will be made," Radonjić said.
The Special Police Department (SPO), on the orders of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, in November 2022 seized all documentation on the entry of ships from the Port of Bar during 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
"On the orders of the SDT, the SPO sealed the area where the documentation is for the period after that, so that all cases of alleged cigarette transport from the Port of Bar abroad, to which the documentation relates, are also subject to investigation, not just those that are currently the subject of an investigation against the defendants," the special prosecutor states.
By the order on the investigation of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, dated December 29, 2023, the defendant Pavićević and his associate Nikica Kovačević, as well as customs officers Ivana Kovačević and Veljko Đuričić, as well as the legal entities “ABC Development Corp” from the Philippines and “Amenua” from Panama, are charged with committing the criminal offenses of “creating a criminal organization”, “continued criminal offense of forgery of an official document” and “continued criminal offense of aiding and abetting smuggling”.
In the first crackdown by the SDT, the suspects were charged with five cases of counterfeiting fictitious cigarette exports from Montenegro, and then at the end of July 2024, the investigation was expanded against members of this criminal organization, as they are believed to have committed the same crime on eight more occasions during 2020.
In a letter to "Vijesti", Prosecutor Radonjić listed data on 13 boat tours allegedly organized during 2020, which, with accompanying, fictitious documentation about the alleged export of cigarettes from the Free Zone of the Port of Bar to an African country, actually covered cigarette smuggling in Montenegro.
"They are suspected of having committed the extended criminal offenses of forgery of an official document and the extended criminal offenses of smuggling by aiding and abetting: on February 19 and 20, March 7, May 22 and December 2, 2020, and that the subject of the criminal offenses was 125.903 packs of cigarettes. By the order to expand the investigation, dated July 31 last year, the defendants were charged with having committed the criminal offenses on June 19, July 30, August 15 and 30, September 16 and 24, October 23 and November 8, 2020, when the subject of the offense was a total of 327.518 packs of cigarettes, and that the failure to pay customs duties, excise duties and taxes on that quantity of cigarettes caused damage to the budget of Montenegro in the amount of at least 350 million euros," the Special State Prosecutor's Office wrote in its response.
After the investigation was opened, the detention of this criminal group was lifted on March 11th last year, and after the investigation was expanded this summer, Prosecutor Radonjić did not even request that they be placed in detention, but the defendants are defending themselves from freedom in the further proceedings.
A few days ago, the NGO MANS published data stating that cigarettes from the Port of Bar were never loaded onto ships, but rather the vessels came to Montenegro solely to load empty containers and proceed to nearby ports.
They cited an example of when the ship “Bergfjord” left the Port of Bar in December 2020, supposedly “carrying” 45.100 packs of cigarettes destined for Libya. However, instead of reaching the African coast, it turned towards Albania, docked in the port of Shenjin, carrying only one empty container on deck.
MANS also published information that the day before the arrival of the "Bergfjord", the company "Playmaker" informed the Port of Bar that only an empty container should be loaded onto that ship.
In addition, the documentation shows that the ship was at the Port of Bar for exactly an hour and a half, and in order to load 45.100 packs of cigarettes in such a short period of time, as stated in the customs documentation, it would have been necessary to load six packs per second onto the ship...
"Such a loading pace would be physically impossible without the engagement of thousands of workers, who could not enter the Free Zone without special permits," the research states.
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