Systemic failures, irregularities and indications of illegal actions have been identified in the operations of the Tivat Football Club "Arsenal", especially in club management, financial operations, calculation of salaries and benefits, keeping financial reports, cash flows and use of municipal property.
This was stated by the Commission for the Analysis of the Business Operations of the Tivat First League Club, which submitted a report to the Tivat Municipal Assembly, signed by five out of eight members, stating that such a situation carries "increased management and financial risk" and opens the way for further institutional action.
Answering questions from "Vijesti", the president of the Tivat Municipal Council Miljan Marković (New Serbian Democracy), submitted the Commission's report to "Vijesti" two days ago, noting that the document contains answers to all questions:
"...And in order to avoid any personal interpretation on my part, I am providing you with a link to the complete Report, which contains all relevant facts and information."
The document covers the period from 2021 to 2025 and claims that there is virtually no oversight over the club's work, and that decision-making is concentrated in the hands of the club president. Dejan Kandić, that there are alleged illegal payments of salaries and benefits, manipulation of financial reports, suspicious cash flows, as well as problematic use of municipal property and investment of public funds without complete documentation.
The editorial staff of "Vijesti" sent a letter to the President of the Municipality of Tivat Željko Komnenović (The People Win) issues related to the work of the Commission, possible submission of documentation, interest from the prosecution, allegations about the club restaurant, salary payments, and making decisions without the consent of the Municipal Assembly, including the transfer of municipal land.
Although he did not answer the questions, Komnenović informed the club president about the editorial office's inquiry, which Kandić told "Vijesti" in a telephone conversation, but he did not answer the questions either.
A club without a supervisory body and real control
The Commission claims that Arsenal did not have a monitoring mechanism in place during the period under review.
"The club does not have a supervisory body, there is no prescribed Supervisory Board, commission, or other control body," the report states.
In such circumstances, the Commission claims, financial decisions were not subject to internal control, nor did the club's bodies have the capacity to monitor the legality of operations.
“Financial decisions were not subject to internal control… The board of directors and the club president acted without oversight.”
Therefore, as stated, "a greater management risk has been identified that affects the legality and transparency of the club's work."
The report details that the Arsenal FC Board of Directors formally existed, but claims that in practice it did not function as a collective body. It also concludes that documentation of its work was incomplete, “without signatures and rules of procedure, without minutes and decisions” or not submitted to the Commission at all.
"Most decisions were made independently by the president."
Such practice, according to the Commission, is contrary to the club's Statute and the Sports Law and further undermines accountability and transparency in work.
Salaries and fees without contracts and taxes
A particularly problematic chapter concerns the payments of salaries, bonuses and other benefits. The Commission states that it has determined that payments were made without concluded contracts, without decisions of competent authorities and without calculation of taxes and contributions.
"...We conclude that the club president exceeded his authority when, without the knowledge of the Board of Directors, he determined the amounts of salaries and allowances for persons who had no contractual relationship with FC 'Arsenal'... We believe that this method of paying salaries and allowances is illegal, and poses a risk of tax and other budgetary consequences for the club and for individuals who received salaries and allowances without a contract. This directly violates the Law on Sports...: 'A sports organization is obliged to conclude an employment contract or some other act regulating mutual rights and obligations with a natural person'", the Commission's Report states.
They also state that those who received wages without a contractual relationship could not be paid contributions in accordance with the law.
The Commission notes that Kandić provided them with the cards of the players who were paid salaries and fees, and that several decisions submitted on the payment of salaries and fees... "do not contain the amounts of salaries and fees."
"Thus, the Commission cannot determine what was paid in terms of salaries and allowances, nor whether the payments were made in accordance with the decisions made. What the Commission can point out from such censored data is that the monthly allowances of players who did not have signed contracts with Arsenal FC ranged mainly in the amounts of 700 euros to 2.500 euros," the Report states.
They also state that the financial reports submitted to the club's Assembly were not complete or reliable, and that they differed from the data recorded with the Tax Administration.
"The Commission has determined manipulation of funds...".
It is also stated that the financial documents did not have the prescribed form...
Club restaurant under special scrutiny
The Report analyzed data on the club restaurant's operations for 2023 and 2024 and stated that a disparity between income and expenses was identified, with the restaurant "not generating profit, but rather creating a loss."
According to the data provided by the Commission, in 2023, the total costs of purchasing goods amounted to 70.855 euros, while the reported income was 80.062 euros, while in 2024, the costs amounted to 46.628 euros, and the income was 56.742 euros. The Commission notes that such a ratio of income and expenses, with additional operating costs of the restaurant, leads to the conclusion that the business of that facility is financially unsustainable.
Additionally, the Commission states that "there are no documents that would indicate that the Board of Directors was informed about the work of the Club Restaurant", nor any documentation that would regulate its work.
The Report further states that the manner in which the restaurant's income and expenses were presented was, "in the Commission's opinion, untrue", and that the club president "was very concerned that the members of the club's Assembly did not have true insight into the financial operations of the Club Restaurant", which is why the Commission concludes that serious doubts have been raised about the transparency of that part of the club's operations, with the note that it does not enter into an assessment of criminal liability.
They question Kandić's donations
They emphasize that Kandić told the Commission about the restaurant employee that he hired him in agreement with Komnenović, but that he did not provide them with any document confirming his work engagement, and that the club president signed the purchases that the Tivat resident was supposed to provide for the restaurant...
The Report states that in 2022, "the number of donations from club president Dejan Kandić, totaling 13.930 euros, is striking."
"In a conversation with the Commission, Dejan Kandić said that the contracts for consulting services, covering the period from 1. 1. 2022 to 1. 7. 2023, under which he received a monthly fee of 700,00 euros net. He said that he had contracts for these consulting services with the Municipality's management, and that he returned the income under this contract to the club through donations, and that he was aware of this... Komnenović. The total amount of Dejan Kandić's donations in 2022, his response to the Commission about the origin of the money he paid as donations to the club, raises doubts about the source of the funds he donated," the document states.
Marković on the “pride of Tivat”, Komnenović on the “showdown” with his list
On January 21, Komnenović's office asked "Vijesti" to wait until yesterday for a response to questions sent on January 20 about the operations of Arsenal FC, but they had not been delivered by last night.
On the day his cabinet announced the answers, Komnenović entered into a sharp polemic on social media with Marković (New Serbian Democracy), who scheduled a special session of the local parliament for February 11 with only one item on the agenda - consideration of the Commission's report.
Marković posted on Facebook that the Commission was "guided by the best intention of making FC Arsenal the pride of Tivat", and that the report offered specific recommendations for the legal and transparent functioning of the club. At the same time, he published the complete document on his profile, although it had not yet been submitted to the councilors at that time.
In his response, Komnenović assessed that the report was used as a political tool to settle scores with his civic newspaper “Narod bejedjuje”, claiming that the document did not contain evidence of criminal acts, and that it was written as “a criminal report without a criminal report”. He criticized the Commission for not mentioning the criminal reports that, as he claims, he and the club’s management had previously filed, as well as the findings of an independent audit that gave a qualified opinion on Arsenal’s operations.
He additionally questioned the jurisdiction of the Commission itself, claiming that the Municipality of Tivat is not formally the founder of FC "Arsenal", and that the Municipal Assembly has never made such a decision.
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