The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) is investigating how the Municipality of Tivat financed the local football club, and they are also seeking information on whether the Mayor of the Municipality Željko Komnenović ceded a municipal plot of land to "Arsenal".
From the order signed by the special prosecutor Ana Perović Vojinović, which "Vijesti" has access to, it is clear that the Tivat Municipal Assembly was requested to make a decision on establishing a Commission to conduct an analysis of the football club's operations, as well as their report.
At the end of January, the Commission concluded that systemic failures, irregularities and indications of illegal actions had been identified in the operations of Arsenal FC, particularly in the management of the club, financial operations, calculation of salaries and benefits, keeping financial reports, cash flows and use of municipal property.
They 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.
"... You need to provide us with information on whether the President of the Municipality of Tivat has made a decision to transfer approximately 11.000 m2 of land to FC 'Arsenal', for the purpose of construction - installation of floodlights at the stadium, with the approval of the Football Association of Montenegro, and if so, it is necessary to submit such a decision in the original or a certified photocopy to this prosecutor's office. In addition to the above, also in the form of an original or a certified copy, it is necessary to submit decisions - contracts on financing the aforementioned FC, and the Memorandum of Cooperation concluded between the Municipality of Tivat and FC 'Arsenal', as well as the Decision of the Municipal Assembly on the establishment of the Commission for conducting an analysis of the business of FC 'Arsenal', and the Commission's report on its work (with accompanying financial documentation for the period from 2022 to 2025)," it says in the letter that arrived at the Municipality of Tivat a few days ago.
The special prosecutor gave them 10 days to provide her with the documentation she requested.
The document prepared by the Commission 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, "Vijesti" published at the end of January.
The Commission claims that Arsenal did not have a supervisory mechanism in place during the analyzed period.
"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 was not submitted to the Commission at all.
A particularly problematic chapter concerns the payment of salaries, bonuses and other benefits. The Commission states that it has determined that the money was paid without concluded contracts, without decisions of the competent authorities and without calculation of taxes and contributions.
The report of the Commission for the Analysis of the Business of FC Arsenal is amateurish, malicious and tendentious, said the Tivat-based first league team, adding that they do not attach much importance to it.
Komnenović (The People Wins) is after being the president of the Tivat Municipal Assembly Miljan Marković (New Serbian Democracy) scheduled a special session of the local parliament for February 11th with only one item on the agenda - the Commission's report, and announced that this body did not approach the work out of good intentions.
"If the commission formed by the Tivat Municipal Council had really approached this job with good intentions, it would have found proof of its incompetence because, believe it or not - there is no evidence that the Tivat Municipal Council ever officially decided that the Municipality of Tivat is the founder of FC 'Arsenal'. There are only statements by former municipal presidents." Ivan Novosel (DPS) and Siniše Kusovac (DPS) that the Municipality is the founder of the club and, interestingly, at the same time as the president of the club's board was Rado Gago Arsić. The same one who, to some signatories of the Arsenal FC business report, is, in their words, their 'good neighbor'.
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