When the State Property Administration announced a tender on June 26, 2020, at the height of the coronavirus and on the eve of one of the worst tourist seasons, in which it planned to spend millions to purchase office space for the Monstat building, the then opposition expressed its disapproval, suggesting that it would be wiser for the state to redirect that money to address the consequences of the severe economic crisis.
But despite the fact that the state was facing great difficulties in public finances, a month later, the then director of the Property Administration Blazo Saranovic He did not give up on the job, but instead opened bids, and the job went to the company "Koti Nekretnine", which until May of that year operated as part of the company "Volvox Inženjering".
In addition to suspicions that the state is spending money irrationally during a time of great crisis, the entire tender process was also accompanied by information that brokers were being solicited, as well as suspicions that corruption may be hidden behind the entire deal.
Officers from the Special Police Department arrested the former director of the Property Administration yesterday. Blaž Šaranovića, due to suspicion that he abused his official position in this tender procedure.
An employee of the Property Administration was arrested by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office. Branko Danilović, who was also the contact person for that tender procedure.
As part of the investigation by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, a well-known builder was also handcuffed in Budva. Duško Krcun Radunović, the owner of the company "Stan projekt".
The SDT announced that SPO officers, upon the order of that prosecutor's office, are carrying out urgent evidentiary actions against several individuals in Podgorica and Budva, due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they have committed criminal offenses of abuse of official position.
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Tender changes
The Property Administration's tender sought functional business space measuring 5.600 square meters, with a separate parking space, but the public call underwent a drastic change just 11 days after it was announced.
The new regulation no longer required a habitable building, but rather one that was in the so-called "gray phase" of construction, and the required square footage and number of parking spaces were also changed...
According to the Public Procurement Law, such drastic changes to the tender required that the procedure be suspended, but the then director Šaranović did not do so, but decided to bring the tender procedure to an end.
In 2023, Šaranović told CIN-CG that it was not true that the change in the tender suited the company that won the job - he claimed that the tender commission made a mistake in the first text, which was quickly corrected, and that everything was done in accordance with the law.
"It was a technical error by the tender commission, which included 'with a turnkey system' in the documentation. The legal procedure within which tender documentation can be changed was also followed. It was changed in the part that required a facility in the gray zone," Šaranović explained at the time.
Two offers were received at the Property Administration's address - "Koti Nekretnine" from Tuzi, while the other was submitted by the Budva company "The Old Bakery".
After the opening of the bids, as "Vijesti" wrote at the time, it was clear that the tender was most likely "drawn" for the company "Koti nekretnine", and this is also indicated by their submitted bid - a building in the "grey phase", with an area of 4.313 square meters, with 80 parking spaces within the garage, which matched the requested data from the adjusted tender.
"Vijesti" then announced that through the complex founding structure of companies connected to the winner of the tender, the offer of "The Old Bakery" was probably found, which was rejected as invalid.
The owner of that company from Budva until the end of 2018 was also "Volvox Engineering", which at that time was managed by Miki Ivanović and Vladan Ivanović.
Three rates...
One of the conditions from the tender documents stipulated that the property offered for sale must not be burdened with encumbrances and restrictions, which should also disqualify the offer of the company "Koti Nekretnine".
The money was paid from the state budget, in accordance with the obligations from the contract, in three equal installments. When the first installment was due for collection through a search of the Cadastre, Vijesti determined that the glass building was burdened with several encumbrances - the building did not have a use permit and was burdened with two mortgages.
One loan of three million euros is then claimed by "Novi Volvoks" with a repayment deadline of April 3, 2021, and the second mortgage relates to a loan of two million euros to Erste Bank with a repayment deadline of June 14 of this year.
It is interesting that the deadlines for loan payment and loan repayment almost coincide with the deadlines for installment payment from the tender documentation.
At the time of signing the contract, the owner of the company "Koti Nekretnine" was the company "Inženjer Gogić", and its owner was 90 percent Lakočević. In September 2019, Vladan Ivanović transferred his share in that company to him, and without compensation.
The glass building on the corner of Bulevar Ivana Crnojevića in the very center has been empty for years, and the state has only recently moved some institutions into it.
It is interesting that the real estate listing for the purchased building in the center of Podgorica still states that it is owned by the Koti Real Estate company, which means that the state paid almost nine million for the building, but not for the land.
Back in 2015, Monstat asked the Property Administration to provide them with appropriate space, and the first version envisaged a workspace for 200 jobs on 2.500 square meters.
In May 2018, the Property Administration announced a tender for the purchase of office space for Monstat, but at that time only 2.000 square meters and a maximum price of 3,3 million euros were requested, excluding technical rooms and garages.
Two years later, the demand for almost three times as much space was increasing, and the price increased to nine million.
The Special Police Department (SPO) has been investigating a suspicious contract for the purchase of a building for the Statistical Office (Monstat) since the end of 2023.
The arrested Blažo Šaranović was the director of the Property Administration from 2012 to January 2021.
At the same time, he managed the Football Club "Iskra" from Danilovgrad for seven years, at a time when the club, with a serious financial leap, managed to become a permanent member of the First League, but also to debut in European competitions...
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