Judge Nenad Vujanović Today, the Podgorica High Court handed down a first-instance verdict in which the defendant Dusko Knezevic acquitted of charges that, together with former Atlas Bank executives, Marko Nikolić i Dijano Zečević, damaged the Airports of Montenegro for three million euros.
Explaining the decision, the judge said that it had not been proven that the defendants had damaged Aerodrome in a criminal sense, but that it could not be ruled out that Aerodrome had been damaged in a civil sense.
He added that this court will not deal with that.
"It was not disputed that Aerodromi deposited 3.000.000 euros with Atlas Bank in 2016, and that this was a contract for a non-purpose deposit. It is not disputed that the contract expired on August 11, 2017. Further negotiations on the re-termination were disputed. The defendant Duško Knežević said in his defense that he received verbal consent from Ivan Brajović that the deposit would be re-terminated. After September 24, there were talks, agreements and negotiations. Not all of this was as presented in the indictment. We cannot say that the defendants intended to obtain material gain. In a criminal-legal sense, no damage was caused to Aerodromi. Whether an unlawful material gain was obtained for Atlas Bank and whether Aerodromi's money was retained... it has not been proven that Atlas Bank obtained material gain, in the opinion of the court."
He recalled that first a temporary administration was introduced, then a moratorium and finally bankruptcy in Atlas Bank.
"But civil liability cannot be ruled out. The funds were in the Airport's account and the money was seized. The money was returned to the Airport's account by the interim administration. The fate of this money is not easy to determine, whether it is now the bankruptcy estate. The defense is right when they pointed out that the Airports should have initiated a lawsuit, a lawsuit, but none of that happened. There was damage in the civil proceedings, because the Airports cannot dispose of the money," said Judge Vujanović.
Independent Public Relations Advisor of the Higher Court in Podgorica Ivana Vukmirović She confirmed that all the defendants in this case were acquitted in the first instance because, after the main trial, it was not proven that they had committed the criminal offenses they were charged with in the SDT indictment.
Nikolić's defense attorney, lawyer Borivoje Đukanović He briefly told Vijesti that the acquittal decision was expected.
"I presented the essential and decisive positions of the defense in my closing argument. All the facts indicate that this is an exclusively civil law relationship, and in no case a criminal law one," said Đukanović.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office, while the institution was headed by GST Milivoje Katnic, filed several indictments against the owner of the "Atlas Group" Duško Knežević.
After changes in the SDT, the indictment was represented by a special prosecutor Zoran Vučinić, who in his closing argument stuck to the allegations of the indictment.
Knežević has been in custody in Spuž since April 30, 2024, after being extradited from Great Britain.
Razić: It was not possible to make any other decision
Lawyer Andrijana Razić, the defense attorney for the defendant Duško Knežević, told reporters that she expected an acquittal.
"I absolutely expected an acquittal. You know that I announced it and that I have been saying from the beginning that this indictment is worse than the one in the 'envelope' case. Judge Nenad Vujanović and his professional, legal and conscientious approach gave me additional confidence that it could not be otherwise except in accordance with the evidence in the case files. This decision coincides with the established factual situation. So it was not possible to make any other decision, if you act as the law requires and if you act without external influences. It was absolutely clear that this was a civil case," Razić assessed.
Attorney Vladan Đuranović, the defense attorney for the defendant legal entity Atas Bank, assessed that the issue of guilt was very problematic from the beginning.
"I don't think there was any, but there was a court case. This is really what the court should have decided. I'm glad that all the defendants were acquitted. This is a civil matter, a situation that could have been resolved in a different way than this. If a civil case had been initiated, it would have already been resolved and Aerodrom would have received its money. We are all in a precarious situation like this. The judge said that bankruptcy was introduced in the bank and there are special rules for the realization of claims against bankrupt banks. We'll see how it goes," said lawyer Đuranović.
Indictment: They asked for money, but did not receive it
The Special State Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against former Atlas Bank managers Duško Knežević, Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević, as well as the legal entity Atlas Bank.
According to the act, the defendants damaged Aerodrom Crne Gore by three million euros and obtained a benefit of the same amount from Atlas Bank, because they did not return the deposit of three million euros after the term expired. According to the SDT, the former owner of Atlas Bank, Duško Knežević, is charged with inciting his employees Nikolić and Zečević to abuse their positions in business operations, that is, to appropriate the funds of the Airport after the term of the deposit expired. "From the defense of the defendants Nikolić and Zečević, and the testimony of witnesses Danilo Orlandić, Vesna Ječmenica and Milica Ivanović, it is indisputable that the term deposit in question expired on August 11, 2018, and that the injured company Aerodromi Crne Gore repeatedly requested and gave instructions that the aforementioned funds in the amount of 3,000,000.00 euros, after the term deposit expired, be returned to the transaction account of the injured company. However, this did not happen," the prosecutor states in the explanation of the indictment.
All charges are dropped.
Lawyer Andrijana Razić reminded that two more court proceedings are underway before the Higher Court in Podgorica against Duško Knežević - in the cases "Karbon" and "Kaspia".
"The defense is in the stage of proposing bail for the third time. I will just say that on this third occasion, the judge acting in which Duško Knežević is in custody, after three months, took a statement from Knežević on the subject of the proposed bail. This indicates, in the defense's opinion, a lack of promptness, because this is a custody case and an absolutely urgent procedure. And especially in light of the fact that all these indictments that were so insanely fabricated against our client are being filed one after another. I cannot prejudge the decision on bail. I expect it very soon. It was easy to file these indictments in the earlier period, because back then it was enough in the structure of judicial office holders to write anything and they knew that everything you write would be confirmed and released into legal production. However, they did not count on the fact that after 2019 a lot would change and that these same indictments would come to a verdict before some honorable and fair judges and that they would reach such an epilogue and experience a total fiasco," she pointed out is Razic.
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