The Range Rover car registered to the Parliament of Montenegro was claimed by Interpol Switzerland, but after court proceedings and a final decision, it was permanently confiscated, and then, by a government decision at the beginning of April last year, it was assigned to the office of the Speaker of the Parliament. Andrija Mandić.
The police and the Higher State Prosecutor's Office are conducting an investigation on suspicion that Danilo Mandic, bodyguard and nephew of the Assembly Speaker, used that car last weekend, and allegedly injured a person at an intersection in the city center Darko Perović i Aris Turković.
Based on cameras and statements, Podgorica police inspectors suspect that on the night between Friday and Saturday, Mandić blocked the path of Perović and Turković in his official "Range Rover", and then fired several shots at them, causing them to suffer gunshot wounds to the legs.
Mandić himself turned himself in to the police almost 24 hours after the incident, and a judge at the Podgorica High Court on Monday ordered him to be detained for up to 30 days. The investigation in this case is being hampered by conflicting statements from Perović and Turković, who claim they do not know how they were injured or what happened in the early hours of the night in the center of Podgorica.
"Vijesti" has learned that the car, which was taken over by the police for criminal processing, is actually a vehicle that was seized at the end of July 2021 at the "Kula" border crossing, when during the check it was determined that an Iraqi citizen was driving a "Range Rover" on which the chassis number had been changed.
By inspecting the computer system, Rožaje police officers determined that the 2013 jeep was wanted by Interpol Switzerland, and during forensic examination it was proven that the chassis number plate had been "treated with acetone", which is why the car was permanently seized by a final court decision at the end of 2023.
The Property Management Department headed by Koča Đurišić, a member of the main board of the New Serbian Democracy, after the Basic Court in Rožaje imposed a measure of permanent confiscation of the car on the last day of 2023, she prepared a Proposal for granting consent to place the confiscated car, whose value is estimated at over 17.000 euros, at the disposal of the Parliament of Montenegro.
The government approved the proposal on April 4th last year, and the "Range Rover" was registered with the Parliament six months later.
The State Property Administration has not responded to "Vijesti" for days when and at whose request they approved the handover of the "Range Rover" to the Parliament of Montenegro without compensation, who decided and according to what criteria to hand over the permanently confiscated car, which had been parked with them since February 2022, to the Parliament.
They did not answer who approached them from the Assembly and with what explanation so that the Government would give them consent to loan the permanently confiscated jeep.
The State Property Administration is not even responsible for how many cars were handed over for use by the Police Administration after June 2024, when it is legally permitted to transfer temporarily seized vehicles to state authorities, and how many were handed over to other institutions for the purpose of guarding protected persons.
"Vijesti" sources state that a large number of temporarily seized cars, which were seized during criminal and financial investigations by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, ended up in the Police Directorate, and that the number taken over by the administration of the Speaker of Parliament is not negligible.
The Parliament of Montenegro does not answer numerous questions from "Vijesti" about who within the Parliament decided to hand over the keys to the "Range Rover" to Danilo Mandić, and in what capacity was he in charge of the security of the head of parliament.
The President of the Assembly, pursuant to the Government Decision on the Determination of Persons, Facilities and Spaces, is provided with security by the Police Directorate.
The police responded to "Vijesti" that Danilo Mandić is not an officer of the Police Department, and that they have no knowledge of his employment status or his engagement in the public or private sector.
Due to several violent episodes, Danilo Mandić was registered as a BIL - a person of interest in security, in the records of the Police Directorate, so a special question is who and how allowed him to drive the Parliament vehicle, or to accompany the Speaker of Parliament as a civilian.
Forensics officers are looking for gunpowder in the jeep.
During the investigation of this case, the police reviewed and took a large number of recordings from surveillance cameras in the center of Podgorica, and numerous statements were collected in order to determine whether the suspect Mandić was driving a company car that night and shot Perović and Turković.
In addition, forensic experts are examining the Range Rover to try to find traces of gunpowder particles in the Assembly vehicle.
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