The Higher Court in Podgorica, at the proposal or initiative of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, has, over the past two years, ordered a temporary blockade of the disposal of real estate in Montenegro and Serbia with a total area of 2.037.245,84 m2, of which 48.828,84 square meters are residential, commercial and garage space, and the remainder includes various categories of land, orchards, gardens, swimming pools and parking spaces...
If the square footage of apartments and business premises, on which a temporary SDT notice has been placed, is multiplied by the average price of an apartment in Montenegro, which last year, according to Monstat data, was 1.850 euros, then it is not difficult to calculate that over 90 million euros worth of real estate has been blocked on this basis alone in the past two years.
SDT in the past three years, since arrival Vladimir Novović The head of that institution, together with the Special Police Department, simultaneously with criminal investigations, also opens financial investigations against defendants in cases of creating a criminal organization, and such a practice has multiplied the numbers, as well as requests for the temporary blocking of property, which is believed to have been acquired through criminal activity.
Conducting financial investigations in Montenegro in previous years yielded poor results, so for example, according to reports from prosecutors' offices, the Special State Prosecutor's Office managed to permanently seize only two apartments and 2016 square meters of land from 2022 to 3.063.
Other prosecutors' offices in Montenegro had even more modest results, so during the same reporting period, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica confiscated only one apartment, and the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje confiscated only 15 euros.
Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković In an interview with "Vijesti" at the end of January this year, he announced that the focus of the State Prosecutor's Office this year will also be on conducting financial investigations at all levels.
"In 2024, exceptional results were recorded when it comes to the temporary seizure of property gains by the SDT. In 2025, the expectations are that the basic and higher state prosecutor's offices will produce significant results in this field," Marković announced at the time.
Measures in 14 cases
Last year, the Special State Prosecutor's Office submitted proposals to the High Court for the determination of interim measures - registration of a ban on the use or disposal of real estate in 14 cases.
The report on the work of the Special State Prosecutor's Office for 2024 states that the total area of real estate in Montenegro covered by these cases is 479.819 square meters.
In addition, last year, the SDT placed a temporary title deed on a 108 square meter apartment and a 19 square meter garage in Serbia, which is owned by a person residing in that country and is connected to the defendant against whom the prosecution is conducting a criminal and financial investigation.
The SDT's work report for 2023 states that they requested a temporary security measure in 15 cases, and then the High Court issued decisions prohibiting the disposal and use of real estate with a total area of 1.557.306,85 m2.
At the request of the SDT, a 107,99 square meter apartment in Serbia and a 12 square meter garage were temporarily blocked that year in order to prevent the transfer of property that could lead to permanent confiscation at a later stage.
Millions "frozen" in banks
In 10 SDT cases last year, a total of 49.392.546 euros, 6,7 million Emirati dirhams, over 42 million Russian rubles and 45.078 US dollars were blocked in accounts in commercial banks...
"Of these ten cases, eight were formed based on suspicious transaction reports. In accordance with Article 89, paragraph 2 of the CPC, and based on the reports, a total of 3.176.196,90 euros were blocked in commercial banks in Montenegro. In one case, 15.700 euros of cash were seized," the SDT report for 2024 states.
In two cases, the Higher Court in Podgorica, at the request of the SDT, issued a decision on the temporary blocking of the disposal of shares and stakes in legal entities.
"The current market price of shares for two individuals, who have been ordered to take a temporary security measure, is 11.077 euros, while the total capital of legal entities is 267.681 euros, or their assets are at the level of 2,3 million euros," the SDT report for last year states.
During 2023, at the request of the SDT, decisions were made in five cases to "freeze" 6,1 million euros, and 171.170 euros and 585 dollars in cash were seized.
In the reporting period, eight cases were opened based on suspicious transaction reports, which resulted in the temporary blocking of 7.774.405 euros in commercial banks.
That year, the SDT ordered the bank to withhold the payment of 5,5 million euros of suspicious money, and 581 thousand valuable shares in one company were blocked.
Cars, yachts, Rolex, Cartier...
Special State Prosecutor's Office in response to "Vijesti", signed by the special prosecutor and spokesperson Vukas Radonjic, states that last year they temporarily seized 25 passenger vehicles, three motorcycles and two boats, 12 expensive wristwatches ("Rolex", "Cartier"), 39 wristwatches of other brands and 169 antiques.
The statistical review of the SDT's work for 2024 states that cars and two vessels were seized from defendants, against whom criminal and financial investigations were initiated in five cases.
In the report on the work of the Special State Prosecutor's Office for 2023, in the section on temporarily blocked movable property, it is written that 30 expensive watches were temporarily seized by their order, including 1 "Cartier" brand, 18 paintings, 39 passenger cars (one "Bentley" brand), eight trucks...
Valuable property on the coast permanently seized
At the end of 2023, after the case was concluded in the High Court with a final conviction for money laundering, numerous real estate properties in Montenegro were permanently seized, the value of which is currently many times higher than that estimated in 2007.
The property that was proven to have been acquired through crime was then estimated at 8.000.000,00 euros, so now more real estate in Herceg Novi, Perast, Bar, Podgorica, Danilovgrad and Nikšić is owned by the state.
By court decision in that case, the assets of two companies were permanently seized due to money laundering, and they were permanently banned from operating.
During 2023, the SDT filed three requests for permanent confiscation of property gains. In one case, a request was filed to confiscate 436 square meters of land, as well as a 413 square meter meadow, as well as a Mercedes car.
That year, the SDT filed a request to permanently seize the "Porsche Cayenne", and in the third year, a request was filed to seize a family building of almost 500 square meters and over 2,5 thousand square meters of land in Podgorica.
In addition, the permanent seizure of 179 square meters of an apartment and several garages was requested, as well as over 700 square meters of business premises in Budva, a "Mercedes Benz", two expensive watches "Rolex Oyster Perpetual Client S 124 and 325"...
Bonus video:
