"Locked" assets of arrested police officers: Financial investigation against members of Mijajlović's crime squad

Former official of the Police and Secret Service Administration Drago Spičanović and suspended police officers Milovan Pavićević i Vladan Lazović In the course of the financial investigation, assets were temporarily blocked at the request of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).

Property registered to members of the defendants' immediate and extended families has also been blocked, and the list includes three one-bedroom, three two-bedroom and two duplex apartments.

The decision was made by the investigating judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, accepting the proposal of the SDT, which charged Spičanović, Pavićević and Lazović with the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and several criminal offenses of abuse of official position and disclosure of secret information.

This decision, the SDT announced, imposed a temporary security measure - a ban on the alienation and encumbrance of real estate, a ban on the use and disposal of rights based on shares and stakes in a company and other securities, and the seizure of movable property.

At the same time, an order was issued to credit and financial institutions to withhold payments of monetary amounts "because there is suspicion that the property was acquired through criminal activity."

"This, among other things, prohibits the defendant MP and six members of the defendant's immediate and extended families from alienating and encumbering real estate in Podgorica and Bar, which includes three one-bedroom, three two-bedroom and two duplex apartments, garage spaces and land of various categories, and confiscated expensive wristwatches, or from paying out over 15.000 euros from bank accounts," said the prosecutor's office, headed by the chief special prosecutor. Vladimir Novović.

The prosecutor's office explained that in relation to the defendant Aleksandar Mijajlović, the organizer of a criminal organization who is also charged with the same indictment, a financial investigation had already been initiated earlier, in another criminal case, due to suspicion that the property of persons close to him was acquired through the criminal activities of the defendant.

Spičanović and Mijajlović have been in custody in Skopje since the beginning of October last year after they were handcuffed in an operation by the SDT and the Special Police Department.

In addition to the two of them, Pavićević and Lazović, as well as the senior state prosecutor, were also deprived of their liberty at that time. Andrijana Nastić, Mijajlović's cousin. After them, the former Minister of Defense, an official of the Democratic Party of Socialists, was also arrested. Predrag Boskovic. The four are defending themselves from the charges.

Mijajlović and NN organizers

All denied guilt before the special prosecutor's office, which filed an indictment against Mijajlović and members of his criminal group five days ago.

They are charged with the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization. Mijajlović is charged with the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position through incitement, and Spičanović with the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position and the criminal offense of disclosing classified information.

Lazović is also charged with two criminal offenses of disclosing classified information, Pavićević with the criminal offense of abuse of official position, and Nastic with the criminal offense of disclosing classified information.

After the indictment was filed by the SDT, they announced that from the electronic, material and personal evidence they collected during the investigation together with the Special Police Department (SPO), it was determined that there is a reasonable suspicion that Mijajlović, with persons still unknown, organized a criminal organization:

"Whose members became the remaining defendants and other, currently unknown persons, which operated in Montenegro, in the period from 2019 to February 2024, and had the aim of committing the criminal offenses of abuse of official position and disclosure of secret information, in order to acquire illegal power, where each member had a predetermined task and role, and in the activities of the criminal organization there was a readiness to apply and apply violence and intimidation and economic and business structures were used, and there was an influence of the criminal organization on the political and executive authorities, the media and other important social factors."

Secrets leaked to the clan boss

From the communications exchanged between the accused over a long period of time, special prosecutors and investigators determined that police officials, a secret service official, and the prosecutor provided confidential information to Aleksandar Mijajlović, identified as the organizer of the criminal group.

According to the prosecution, Spičanović passed on information from closed sessions of the parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense to Mijajlović. He informed him about discussions that concerned the then Deputy Prime Minister. Dritan Abazović, especially in connection with his visit Ljub Bigović, convicted of murdering a police inspector Slavoljub Šćekić.

Special prosecutors claim that Spičanović sent messages to Mijajlović via WhatsApp on October 25, 2021: "They killed Dritan at the parliamentary committee in the 'dead room' about the visit to Bigović... They asked him for a note... which of course he doesn't have."

Spičanović is suspected of also providing the identities of the women Mijajlović was interested in, as well as parts of the report from the Internal Control Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the actions of the police during the protests in Cetinje in September 2021, during the enthronement of the Metropolitan. Joanikia.

A month after the risky enthronement at the Cetinje Monastery, when the police used both force and coercion, Spičanović informed the alleged organizer of the criminal group about the information obtained from the Internal Control of the Ministry of the Interior.

They also state that from June 30, 2020 to October 1 of that year, Spičanović, as a high-ranking public official of the Police Department, Assistant Director of Police, in response to several inquiries from Mijajlović, sent personal data and identification numbers of persons he had taken from the MUP system, in whom the businessman was interested, via messages.

They accuse him of counting the "pilgrims" during protest gatherings and reporting to Mijajlović how many people were protesting against the Law on Freedom of Religion in each city, but also of providing him with information about the arrest of MCP priests and members of church boards.

On the other hand, Milovan Pavićević According to prosecutors, he acted directly on Mijajlović's orders - providing him with information about police operations, people who would be arrested, and tailoring police statements to his interests. He is also alleged to have played a role in political activity during the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Pavićević is suspected of having organized police interventions for private reasons. From his communication with Mijajlović, special prosecutors obtained evidence that the brother of the accused businessman was bothered by the fact that the song “Ne damo svetinje” was being played in a bar near his apartment, which is why the latter asked the then head of the Podgorica Security Center to empty the cafe, which he did. Prosecutors state that the reasonable suspicion that Pavićević was tasked with informing the organizer about the deprivation of liberty of persons present at protest rallies organized against the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion throughout Montenegro, the so-called litia, stems from the communication they also had on September 17, 2020.

He is also accused of providing Mijajlović with benefits by illegally abusing his official position on February 12, 2021, in violation of the Internal Affairs Law, by providing Mijajlović with information about the Police Directorate's operation codenamed "Overnight Stay".

The communication between Mijajlović, three police officers, the prosecutor and the former minister, prosecutors conclude, shows that they acted for the benefit of the criminal organization for a long time...