Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović submitted a proposal to the Prosecutorial Council to establish disciplinary liability against the suspended special prosecutor Saša Čađenović, because he did not act within the legal deadlines in the "Telekom" case, which caused the statute of limitations to expire in one of the largest corruption scandals in Montenegro.
The Prosecutorial Council responded to "Vijesti" that GST Novović submitted a proposal to establish disciplinary liability against Čađenović, as the previous case handler, for a serious disciplinary offense.
"Because, without a justified reason, he did not act within the legally prescribed deadlines, and as a result, the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in the case you are interested in and in another case has expired," the Prosecutorial Council's response reads.
The proposal to establish more severe disciplinary liability relates to the criminal offenses of accepting a bribe and accepting a bribe by aiding and abetting in the "Telekom" case, which were prosecuted by Prosecutor Čađenović in the period from March 1, 2019 to mid-May 2021, when the statute of limitations also expired for that part of the criminal report in this affair.
The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office stated in a statement that the statute of limitations for the criminal offense of accepting a bribe and accepting a bribe by aiding and abetting occurred due to the previous processor and the former GST Milivoj Katnić.
"For the criminal offenses of accepting a bribe and accepting a bribe by aiding and abetting, which are also the subject of a criminal report, the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution expired on May 15, 2021, but the responsibility for this lies with the previous case handler in relation to the one who made the decision and the previous head of the Special State Prosecutor's Office," the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office announced.
They pointed out that once the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has expired, the special prosecutor cannot, by law, undertake any procedural action to verify the allegations in the report or determine its merits.
In December 2022, two days after his arrest, the Prosecutorial Council made a decision to temporarily suspend prosecutor Saša Čađenović, because an investigation had been launched against him for an act that makes him unworthy of performing the prosecutorial function.
The investigation, and then the indictment against Čađenović, was filed due to SDT's accusations that he covered up the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, that is, he did not initiate criminal proceedings against the leaders of the Kavač clan, as well as the former secret agent. Petar Lazović.
Former GST Milivoje Katnić was dismissed from his post in February 2022, and has been in custody since April last year due to SDT charges of creating a criminal organization and abuse of official position.
In order to submit a proposal to initiate disciplinary proceedings, GST Novović had to wait for the decision of the prosecutor of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office. Veljko Rutović, and upon the objection of the NGO MANS, which requested an examination of the legality of the decision of the Special State Prosecutor's Office to dismiss their criminal complaint because the statute of limitations had expired in the "Telekom" case.
Prosecutor Rutović assessed that the SDT, or special prosecutor, Ana Perović Vojinović made a correct and lawful decision with sufficiently clear reasons for dismissing MANS's criminal complaint against the former head of state Milo Đukanović, his sisters Ana Đukanović and others for abuse of official position, accepting bribes and creating a criminal organization during the sale of the state-owned company "Telekom" in 2005.
"The decision in the 'Telekom' case is correct and lawful," the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office announced yesterday.
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They enumerated when the statute of limitations in this case had expired.
"We inform the public that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution for the criminal offenses of abuse of official position and abuse of official position by aiding and abetting expired on March 31, 2015, for the criminal offense of bribery expired on May 15, 2011, and for the criminal offense of money laundering expired on May 15, 2016, i.e. well before the filing of the criminal report, which the NGO Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector filed on March 1, 2019," the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office announced.
MANS announced that it would submit an initiative to the Prosecutorial Council to review the actions of prosecutors in this case.
Special Prosecutor Ana Perović Vojinović at the end of July dismissed MANS's criminal complaint from March 2019 against the two Đukanovićs, as well as a former representative of "Telekom". Oleg Obradović, “Eurofonda” Veselin Barović, "Monte Adria" company Damjan Hosta and "Hungarian Telecom" Tomas Morvai.
The state-owned company "Crnogorski Telekom" was sold to "Mađar Telekom" in 2005 for 114 million, of which three million were allocated for a subsidy for the purchase of shares of minority shareholders.
The government of then Prime Minister Đukanović decided to pay each minority shareholder of “Telekom” 30 cents for each share offered by “Mađar Telekom”. Thus, the Hungarians bought minority shares at a price of 2,2 euros, as they had proposed, but the shareholders, thanks to the contribution of the Government, received 2,5 euros for each share sold. The minority shareholders, however, were left short, because even the “subsidized” price was significantly lower than the price that “Mađar Telekom” paid for the state-owned package of shares, i.e. 4,7 euros per share.
In December 2011, Magyar Telekom paid a $95 million fine to settle civil and criminal charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the company bribed officials in North Macedonia and Montenegro to win business and eliminate competition in the telecommunications sector. The SEC charges allege that Deutsche Telekom, through its subsidiary, paid multimillion-dollar bribes to Montenegrin officials.
In April 2015, the Montenegrin prosecutor's office received documentation on the "Telekom" affair from the US. From that year until the beginning of 2019, special prosecutors explained that they were waiting for the "translation of the documentation"...
White&Case, a world-renowned law firm, in an internal report they prepared on December 15, 2006, stated that the Hungarian MATAV, the Montenegrin “Telekom”, as well as the lawyers Ana Kolarević and Nikola Martinovic "were unable to provide documentation to support their alleged provision of legal services under the Sigma contract."
The audit report also states that based on the evidence collected, "there is reason to believe that costs incurred under four consulting contracts, including Sigma, served inappropriate purposes"...
The former GST claimed in early 2019 that "Milo and Ana Đukanović were not involved in the fraud surrounding the sale of Telekom."
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