A businessman Budimir Krstović he asked the head of the Podgorica Higher State Prosecutor's Office Beautiful Medenica, whether she launched a new investigation after he and his daughter Marina acquitted of smuggling more than a ton of cocaine and accused her colleague Tanja Bozovic that she ruined their lives.
At the end of August 2021, police seized around 1.200 kilograms of drugs, hidden among packages of bananas, in the Krstović warehouse in Zeta.
In April 2024, however, they were acquitted by a final verdict, and the court concluded that no evidence could be used to conclude that they had ordered cocaine from Ecuador, but rather bananas, which they had been dealing in for years.
Because of all this, they sued the state, and the total amount for the unfounded deprivation of liberty is 720.000 euros.
"No one is interested in what happens next with the narcotics case, even though we have been acquitted, and no one is claiming unidentified persons. Why didn't the prosecution launch an investigation into Ecuador, where the cocaine in question came from, which, I note for the hundredth time, was found by the American DEA, and not Zdravko Krivokapić and Dritan Abazović, who boasted about the most successful operation, only to have Krivokapić accuse Abazović of smuggling cocaine after six months, and Abazović accuses Krivokapić of smuggling cigarettes with his son-in-law in Bar," stated Budimir Krstović.
He said that everyone always states that cocaine was found in his warehouse, ignoring the fact that cocaine smuggling through cargoes of citrus fruits is a very common occurrence in EU ports: "Because the South America - Europe shipping route suits criminal groups."
"The cocaine was hidden in a container carrying bananas ordered by my company without my knowledge, a modus operandi used by criminal groups for drug smuggling, also known as 'rip on/rip off' where narcotics are hidden among legal cargo without the knowledge of the importer of legal goods, in this case citrus fruits. Criminal groups do not need my permission or complicity to use my cargo for drug smuggling, but work in agreement with workers at the port of departure and arrival, as well as with the police, customs and the ship's crew. In EU ports, the drugs are seized at the port and never taken to the importer of legal goods, because the police know that the importer of legal goods has no connection to drugs. This makes it clear why the container with cocaine was allowed to leave the port and the unloading of bananas was stopped at the beginning, which is to blame the importer of bananas, which is not standard protocol," claims Krstović.
He emphasized that his family hired a former DEA investigator who went to Ecuador on the case:
"And found that the Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office did not even contact the local prosecutor's office to inform them that the cocaine had arrived from Ecuador in Montenegro."
He then asked why Prosecutor Božović, who was leading the case, did not open a new investigation. Krstović claims that her mandate ended in June 2024, but that she was "reinstated to her job."
"What results did Tanja Božović achieve to return to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office? She destroyed my life and my daughter's life and bore no responsibility for it, neither criminal nor legal. Why don't you ask what happened to the criminal report we filed against the court interpreter?" Zane Tassan Mazzoco, who admitted that she mistranslated my daughter's correspondence with the banana supplier? She also admitted that the prosecutor was aware of these mistranslations. I must remind you that this was the evidence that led to the indictment and that led to my daughter and I spending 500 days in prison. That criminal complaint is over three years old," he states.
He also said that no one mentions that their main claim for damages is actually lost profits on money that was in foreign banks and rents from their real estate.
"Since September 2021, I have not been able to dispose of my money, let alone the annual interest that follows. And that is the main part of the compensation claim. I lost the business that I ran for 35 years, that I still do not have access to my money, and that I could not pay for my treatment with that same money because I fell ill in prison... My lawsuit is a search for justice for everything that my daughter and I have gone through. Dritan Abazović and Zdravko Krivokapić are responsible for labeling us as mafia and drug cartel, who convened the famous conference and returned us to detention. This applies to all subjects of government, the prosecution, and the judiciary who succumbed to political pressure and refused bail and the termination of detention, ignoring two positive decisions of the Constitutional Court. None of this would have happened if the first decision of the investigating judge in which we were granted house arrest had been respected."
Budimir Krstović emphasized that he still does not have access to his money, because, as he claims, commercial banks in Montenegro and abroad do not want him as a client, nor do they want to accept his money, "because I am labeled in a bad context and I am not welcome as an anti-advertisement for their bank."
"No one mentions the legal costs I had in Switzerland, because the Montenegrin prosecutor's office blocked my account in Switzerland for a financial investigation, which was unblocked after an inspection because the investigation found nothing suspicious in my business. However, I still cannot dispose of my capital because no one wants me as a client thanks to the fabricated indictment of drug smuggling. I want you to know that I had huge lawyer costs in Montenegro, Switzerland, as well as surgeries in Germany and a month-long recovery, and that I went through a golgotha. I will donate all the profit or compensation for my reputation, damaged reputation and treatment, but I cannot and will not forgive the loss of my savings that I had abroad that belong to me."
Politicians should pay for everything, maybe they'll learn some sense
Krstović said that his only satisfaction was hearing positive comments about them in the Parliament of Montenegro and the agreement of both the government and the opposition that they should sue the state after everything that happened to them.
"And that's not even a small thing we're asking for, because human lives have no price, nor can they be determined by any tariff... In the end, and most importantly, I think that for all this that was caused by the politicians of the time, they should personally bear responsibility, and pay compensation for the damage from their own pockets, not the citizens of Montenegro. Maybe then they would start doing their job responsibly and conscientiously. We're doing all this so that no one else experiences the injustice and lynching that my family and I experienced," he said.
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