My father acquired everything, I have nothing to do with it, the defendant recently stated. Ivan Delic before the panel of the Higher Court in Podgorica, challenging the allegations of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) charging him with creating a criminal organization and multiple criminal offenses related to illegal drug trafficking.
The hearing was to decide on his defense attorney's appeal against the temporary blocking of his property in Reževići, which the court ordered in March of this year.
Before a panel presided over by a judge Vesna Kovačević, the Budva resident emphasized that the entire blocked property was the result of decades of work by his late father. Dušan Delić, who worked abroad for years.
"My father was involved in construction and created and built all the real estate himself for the last 50 years, and none of it is mine. There is evidence about everything that has been proposed in the case files," said the defendant.
His lawyer, Tatjana Pavličić, claims that the SDT acted hastily, without access to the complete documentation.
According to her, the court accepted the erroneous interpretation that the property was being concealed, while in reality the picture is completely different - all the real estate was properly registered - except that some were recorded in the G list, and not in the V list of cadastral data, which is a consequence of the records not being up-to-date, and not an attempt at concealment...
"I would especially like to emphasize that with the statement regarding the real estate that is the subject of a temporary measure pursuant to the decision of the investigating judge of 6 December 12, all documentation is included, and the legal reasons are at issue. In this decision of the investigating judge, guided by the erroneous position of the SDT that certain illegal activities are at stake, and due to the unavailability of data on certain real estate registered with Ivan Delić and Andrijana Mitrović Delić, the court came to the conclusion that certain real estate is being hidden. This does not correspond to the material truth and they were registered with these persons at the time when the SDT filed its proposal for the determination of a temporary measure of 2024 July 23," she said, explaining that the appearance of concealment was created due to poor cadastral records.
As key evidence, the defense submitted the findings and opinions of a construction expert. Tatjana Stankovic, according to which no building was illegally built or reconstructed. The expert used ortho-photographs from the previous 20 years and determined that the buildings had existed for years, before Delić left Montenegro.
It was particularly emphasized that the property was registered to Delić and his wife Andrijana Mitrović Delić even at the time when the SDT requested a temporary measure, which, according to the lawyer, refutes the claim that something was attempted to be concealed.
She added that the prosecution's position, namely the investigating judge's position in the decision on the blockade, is wrong - that Ivan Delić "built something and added something, reconstructed something"...
"Not because of the bad intentions of the investigating judge, but because he was not in possession of the relevant documentation submitted by the defense in the form of the expert's findings and opinion, which provided a detailed overview and explanation for the confusing situation he found in the real estate list in question. In the expert's findings and opinion of 25. 5. 2025, this court may find with regard to certain real estate that the expert found that the cadastral plots do not contain the objects listed in the G list at all or that there are multiple objects on the areas where the swimming pool or tennis court is located, which is not true. And we also have a situation where three objects are recorded on three cadastral plots, while in fact it is one object that was built on three cadastral plots."
"The defense believes that the appeal should be upheld and the investigative judge's decision should be overturned because there is no evidence that would have determined or confirmed the decision," said attorney Tatjana Pavličić.
As key evidence, the defense submitted the findings and opinion of construction expert Tatjana Stanković, according to which none of the buildings were illegally built or reconstructed. The expert used ortho-photographs from the previous 20 years and determined that the buildings had existed for years, before Delić left Montenegro.
It was particularly emphasized that the property was registered to Delić and his wife Andrijana Mitrović Delić even at the time when the SDT requested a temporary measure, which, according to the lawyer, refutes the claim that something was attempted to be concealed.
HE DIDN'T RUN, HE WAS TREATING
Delić's wife also spoke in the courtroom. Andrijana Mitrovic Delic, denying claims that Ivan was on the run and explaining that he left Montenegro due to health problems and treatment abroad.
"He was not on the run, as he left the country two years ago for health reasons," she said, adding that their son also spent a year with him undergoing treatment...
She also stated that all property was registered in the cadastre, but that some of the studies were "done incorrectly."
"I think it's a failure of the cadastre, and I think so too do the people who did those studies. Since Ivan inherited this property in 2019 and until 2023, we fell into huge debt, and the corona also affected it, so in 2023 I was forced to sell certain property, which I did until 2024. The price for which I sold this property is a realistic price, I even think they offered me less, because I was forced to. Especially since the apartments were ready for renovation. and one of them was not decorated. I think this price is absolutely adequate and not fictitious, because with that sale I resolved the large debt I had towards Hipotekarna banka in the amount of 180.000 euros," she explained.
She added that after Dušan Delić's death, they took over all of his debts.
"That's why I would like to remove the suspicion that there was any money laundering," said Andrijana Mitrović Delić.
Ivan Delić found himself on Interpol's international red notice after he evaded arrest in the prosecutorial-police operation "General" last August. He was then arrested and extradited to Montenegro from Dubai at the end of May.
He was deprived of his liberty by order of the Higher Court in Podgorica, for the purpose of conducting criminal proceedings due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that he committed the criminal offenses of creating a criminal organization and two criminal offenses of drug trafficking, which are suspected to have been committed on a transnational level.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
July 23, 2024 – SDT submits a proposal to temporarily block Ivan Delić's assets.
December 6, 2024 – First decision on temporary measure issued.
November 5, 2024 – Real estate sale contracts concluded in the name of Andrijana Mitrović Delić.
November 27, 2024 – A contract was signed between the Zenović and Delić families for two cadastral plots in Reževići.
March 7, 2025 – The investigating judge issues a new decision on the freezing of assets.
May 25, 2025 – A construction expert's report on the condition of the disputed real estate was prepared.
End of May 2025 – Ivan Delić extradited to Montenegro from Dubai.
July 11, 2025 – The defense submits additional documentation and an appeal, after which a hearing was held before the panel of the Higher Court in Podgorica
A killer with a state seal?
Minister of Internal Affairs (MUP) Danilo Šaranović said that Ivan Delić killed Goran Žugić, former security advisor to then-President Milo Đukanović.
He referred to police operational data while speaking before members of the state parliament.
"Information number 1, filed in the public security service 25 years ago. According to unverified information, Goran Žugić made direct contact with Naser Orić in Bratunac and met with his cousin Milovan Žugić. Contact with Orić was made through the collaboration group. Naser Orić told us not to bother too much because we have a man in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who knows everything and who is an accomplice in all of this. The operational information has been confirmed by several sources," said Šaranović.
He added that Branislav Bran Mićunović's former bodyguard and driver said that Delić carried out the liquidation on the orders of the now deceased secret service official Beli Raspopović and Bran Mićunović...
"Because of Žugić's knowledge of the criminal activities of this group, especially regarding cigarette and drug smuggling. We are aware that this person told Mićunović about this. During the conversation with this person, he insisted on talking to the President of the Republic, unequivocally claiming that Raspopović and Mićunović were behind the murders of Žugić, which he directly links to the murders in Montenegro and Serbia - Pavićević, Vujičić, Labović, Nedović...", said the top police officer.
He then emphasized that Delić was first interested in the Serbian Ministry of Interior during the liquidation of General Radomir Stojčić.
As he added, the source accused Delić of the murder of inspector Dragan Simić, but also of the murder of JAT director Živorad Petrović.
"The previous information explained the operational data obtained from Blagota Baja Sekulić, who was friends with Žugić. Namely, Baja Sekulić stated that he was in danger and, if he were killed, that he was killed by Beli Raspopović, head of the Seventh Directorate of the ANB," he said.
He also said that "one of the leaders of the tobacco mafia in Montenegro, Srećko Kestner," told Sekulović to stop collecting information about the murder of Goran Žugić, because the time will come when everything will be known.
"The checks of telephone conversations for the critical time - 15 minutes before and after the murder of the security advisor to the President of the Republic - have not been fully implemented, but the volumes of communications between Grbovć Sava and Brano Mićunović with Luka Bulatović, a member of the State Security Service, are of particular interest in terms of time," Šranović pointed out, adding that "no one has any doubt that all those murders are under the seal of the state."
From warriors to the SDT blockade
Vido Zenović, a resident of Budva, said that the SDT mistakenly blocked more than 15.000 square meters of land in Reževići that his family had owned for almost 200 years.
"That land was used by my ancestors, fishermen and sailors. I sold 115 square meters to Delić legally, for 30.000 euros, and that was confirmed by a notary. Everything is documented."
He explained that 115 square meters that he sold to the Delićs for 30.000 euros were blocked, but that then his other land was also blocked by mistake...
The problem, he claims, arose when the investors called him and told him that the land on which the construction was planned was also blocked, and he was supposed to sign a contract with them for a joint project.
He emphasized that the SDT blocked about 15.000 square meters for him.
"The court's letter of March 7, 3 states that there is a reasonable suspicion that the property in question was acquired through criminal activity. This is my property and it was acquired legally. It was used and lived off by me, Vido, and my sisters Slavka and Radojka, as well as my ancestors Stevo, Vido, Joko, Vuko, Stjepo, Đuro, Marko... who were fishermen, fishermen, sailors, and when the homeland called, warriors. Such a qualification simply offends me, and it offends my sisters as well. Any court expert or surveyor can see by overlapping the Austro-Hungarian maps and the new ones that my real estate was inherited, and by looking at the old land registers of the land registry. As evidence, I am attaching a cadastral map from 2025, and a decision on inheritance from 1838," the witness stated.
He added that he did not know Ivan Delić, and that he first met Andrijana Mitrović Delić when they were discussing the elements for drafting the contract.
"She expressed great regret and sincerely apologized for the fact that the now deceased Dušan Delić, Ivan's father, devastated my property. The properties we sold belong to our family," Vido Zenović stated in a letter to the court.
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