"Carbon Credits" Case: Duško Knežević, Brankica and Biljana Bašović and Predrag Dašić Acquitted

Duško Knežević was acquitted of charges today in the "Global Carbon Credits" case.

The first-instance verdict was pronounced by Judge Igor Đuričković at the Higher Court in Podgorica.

Brankica Bašović, Biljana Bašović and Predrag Dašić were also acquitted.

Judge Đuričković said that there was no evidence that they had committed the criminal offense of abuse of authority in business.

Lawyer Dražen Medojević, Knežević's defense attorney, told reporters that this was an expected verdict.

"The first procedural action by the SDT in relation to the defendant Biljana Bašović was taken by questioning her before the SDT on 26 December 2018, and in relation to Brankica Bašović, on 28 December 2018, i.e. more than ten years from the day it was taken and its consequences occurred. While in relation to the defendant Duško Knežević, the questioning in the investigation was not taken because he was unavailable to state authorities. The Court finds that the relative statute of limitations for the criminal prosecution for the basic act of the continued criminal offense, described in paragraph I of the SDT indictment, occurred on 22 December 2018, i.e. four days before the first procedural action was taken by the SDT," said Judge Đuričković.

In the explanation of the acquittal, Đuričković said, among other things, that there was no evidence that the defendants committed the criminal offenses listed in the SDT indictment.

"The court has undoubtedly established that the legal entity 'Global Karbon DOO' was founded on November 26, 2008 by IBM Bank, with a founding capital of two million euros, and then Biljana Bašović was appointed as the executive director, and that shortly after that founding, IBM Bank made the founding capital available to the newly established legal entity 'Global Karbon', after which that money was deposited as a deposit of that legal entity. From the evidence presented, it was clearly established that the legal entity 'Global Karbon', IBM Bank, Atlas Bank and all legal entities to which 'Global Karbon' gave loans and assigned parts of deposits as cash collateral for loan repayment, were part of the same business group whose majority or one hundred percent owner was the defendant Duško Knežević. All business and banking transactions were accompanied by adequately prepared business documentation in the form of concluded loan agreements, loan agreements, which clearly defined the means of securing the orderly repayment of those loans. The evidence presented did not prove the element of illegality in the actions taken by the defendant Biljana Bašović as the executive director of the legal entity 'Global Karbon'. In simple terms, if the SDT indictment were accepted, it would actually mean that Duško Knežević founded a criminal organization, whose members were Dašić, Nikolić, Brankica and Biljana Bašović, and who agreed to, on the instructions of Duško Knžević, as the owner of the entire group, for Knežević's account, cause damage to the legal entity 'Global Karbon', which is also owned by Duško Knežević. And to obtain benefits for other legal entities, which are also owned by Duško Knežević. This would mean that at the same time the defendant Duško Knežević, as the actual owner of 'Global Karbon', would be harmed by reducing the assets of that company in the amount of one million and 942.000 euros, and that at the same time Duško Knežević, as the owner of the legal entities 'Fin Invest', 'Atlas Group', RTV 'Atlas', "RT Mimoza, Atlas Sistem and Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited, which were beneficiaries of those loans, obtain benefits in the same amount. That would be a practically impossible situation, both from a criminal law and from a life logic perspective," said Đuričković.

The indictment against Duško Knežević alleges, among other things, that Knežević, Predrag Dašić, Zoran Nikolić, Brankica Bašović and Biljana Bašović caused damage to the legal entity "Global Karbon" DOO Podgorica, and obtained unlawful benefits in the amount of 1.942.000 euros from the legal entities "Fin Invest", "Atlas Grupa", RTV "Atlas", "RT Mimoza", "Atlas Sistem" and "Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited".

Due to the relative statute of limitations on criminal prosecution, the court dismissed the charges against Knežević, Branka and Biljana Bašović, and Zoran Nikolić in the second part of the indictment.

The indictment for Carbon Credits was filed at a time when the Special State Prosecutor's Office was headed by GST Milivoje Katnić.

The indictment was filed by the then special prosecutor Lidija Vukčević on July 5, 2019, and was confirmed before the High Court on January 20 of the following year.

The indictment against Duško Knežević alleges, among other things, that Knežević, Predrag Dašić, Zoran Nikolić, Brankica Bašović and Biljana Bašović caused damage to the legal entity "Global Karbon", and obtained unlawful benefits in the amount of 1,942,000 euros from the legal entities "Fin Invest", "Atlas Grupa", RTV "Atlas", "RT Mimoza", "Atlas Sistem" and "Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited".

The indictment states that from business and financial documentation, the special prosecutor states that it follows that during 2008, Duško Knežević organized a criminal group, and that this follows from the statements of the defendants' defense as well as from the statements of the cooperating witness Đorđe Đurđić, the indictment states in its explanation.

The indictment states that during 2008, the defendant Duško Knežević organized a criminal organization on the territory of Montenegro that operated until the end of 2017, whose members included the other defendants, as well as Đorđe Đurđić - a cooperating witness in this case. The indictment states that the defendants intentionally incited Biljana Bašović, executive director of the company "Global Karbon", founded by Invest banka Montenegro AD Podgorica, with the intention of obtaining unlawful material gain. Thus, in December 2008, Duško Knežević made a decision to transfer 1.000.0000 euros in the account of "Global Karbon" with IBM Bank, originating from the founding capital paid by the founder of IBM Bank, to the account of the non-resident legal entity "Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited", with Atlas Bank in Moscow for the purpose of closing the loan that this legal entity has with Atlas Bank in Moscow, whose repayment period has expired.

The basis for the aforementioned transfer of money was a contract for the alleged purchase and sale of carbon credits, which will not take place. It was agreed that "Mega Gulf" would allegedly purchase carbon credits in the name and on behalf of "Global Karbon", which contract served as the basis for the realization of the aforementioned financial transaction. The transfer order was completed by Brankica Bašović, and certified with her signature, and the transfer of funds in the amount of one million euros was carried out from the "Global Karbon" account to the "Mega Gulf" account.

The indictment also lists the loans approved by Knežević, when, in order to implement the criminal plan, he decided that IBM Bank would approve a loan to "Global Karbon" in the amount of 500.000 euros, and that the means of securing the repayment of the loan would be a deposit by "Global Karbon" in the amount of 500.000 euros, which would be given from the founding capital of that legal entity, which was paid by IBM Bank to the legal entity "Global Karbon", without a decision by the founder of IBM Bank.

This is another acquittal against the former owner of the "Atlas Group" Duško Knežević.

On September 23rd of this year, he was acquitted of charges in the "Airports" case by a first-instance decision, and the verdict was pronounced by judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, Nenad Vujanović.

In that case, Knežević was accused of damaging the "Aerodromes of Montenegro" to the tune of three million euros, together with the directors of "Atlas Banka", Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević.

In his explanation of the verdict, the judge said that the defendants had neither the thought nor the knowledge that this could happen. He pointed out that according to the findings of this court, it has not been proven that this is an illegal acquisition of benefits when Atlas Bank is involved.