The Court of Appeals imposed a harsher sentence on Stanko Kovačević for bank fraud

The Court of Appeal rejected as unfounded the appeal filed by the defense attorney of the accused Stanko Kovačević against the verdict of the Higher Court, while accepting the appeal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office and revising the aforementioned verdict in the part of the decision on the sentence.

"With this decision, the accused Kovačević was sentenced to four years in prison for the criminal offense of abuse of position in business operations, instead of the two years in prison imposed on him by the Higher Court," the statement said.

At the same time, the decision was confirmed, which obliged the defendant to pay the injured party, Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka (CKB), the amount of 870 thousand euros, with statutory default interest starting from May 31, 2024 until final payment, within 15 days from the date the verdict becomes final.

"From the state of the case files and the presented evidence, it follows that the accused, as the chief cashier of the CKB branch in Herceg Novi, obtained unlawful material gain in the stated amount by abusing his position," the statement added.

The Court of Appeal assessed that the Higher Court, in a lawfully conducted procedure, correctly and completely established all decisive facts, correctly assessed the presented evidence and correctly applied the provisions of the Criminal Code of Montenegro in relation to the existence of a criminal offense and the guilt of the accused.

"However, in deciding on the appeal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office, the Court of Appeal found that the first-instance court did not sufficiently assess the gravity of the criminal offense committed, especially considering the amount of unlawful material gain obtained and the degree of violation of protected property. This court assessed that the above circumstances require stricter punishment in order to achieve the purpose of punishment and strengthen public confidence in the protection of legality and responsibility in financial operations," the statement concluded.