Is Mandić accumulating assets legally? Former Serbian handball player continues to buy real estate in Montenegro

Former Serbian handball player Vladimir Mandic He continued to purchase real estate in Montenegro as a foreigner, which is why authorities are determining whether these transactions were carried out legally.

Multiple sources in Vijesti claim that investigators are checking whether any of the notary offices or someone from the cadastre committed a crime, allowing this Serbian citizen to accumulate property in Montenegro, despite the fact that he has been banned from entering the country for five years - starting in 2022.

According to the Law on Property and Legal Relations, foreign citizens cannot be owners of agricultural and forest land over 5.000 square meters, and they can be owners of smaller plots if residential buildings are registered on them.

The editorial team expects answers from the Police Directorate to questions about Mandić, the purchase of real estate and the possible criminal liability of someone in charge...

One of Vijesti's interlocutors said that documented legal transactions indicate the continuous purchase of land in the Tudorovići and Reževići areas in the Budva municipality, including fields, pastures, forests and other land areas.

"Available data indicates that he continues to acquire ownership rights over real estate in Montenegro, with his father concluding legal transactions on his behalf." Momcilo Mandic, in the capacity of an attorney... Of particular note are the transactions completed on his behalf in March and November 2024, worth 46.500 euros and 24.000 euros, as well as the contract from April 2026, by which he acquired real estate in KO Reževići I for 140.000 euros, with the simultaneous transfer of additional co-ownership rights without compensation," said one of the interlocutors.

According to available cadastral data, Mandić acquired several real estate properties in the Budva area between 2021 and 2026, including family houses, yards, fields, pastures, and forests.

Vijesti has learned that authorities have also recorded the purchase of a real estate complex in the Reževići municipality for 580.000 euros, as well as other transactions and land registrations. Other real estate, mainly land, was paid for from 24.000 to 140.000 euros.

"Legal transactions on behalf of Vladimir Mandić during some of the real estate purchases in Montenegro were concluded by his father." Momcilo Mandic, a former high-ranking police and political official of Republika Srpska. Notary and cadastral services are being checked, because in this specific case we have a pattern that a person who has been banned from entering and has had his residence in Montenegro cancelled continues to expand his property base in the country by purchasing and registering real estate, using a proxy to conclude legal transactions," said one of the sources.

According to the records of the Cadastre and State Property Administration, Vladimir Mandić is recorded as the owner of real estate for which he paid around one million euros...

BAN AFTER NIKŠIĆ ELECTIONS

This Serbian citizen, born in Sarajevo, was banned from entering Montenegro by the Montenegrin police in October 2022. In addition to him, a ban was also imposed on a Serbian citizen at that time. To Danet Šijan.

Initially, the two were detained for several hours at the Metaljka border crossing, between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and were then banned from entering Montenegro for national security reasons.

The former handball player was then, in addition to being banned from entering Montenegro, also had his residence and work permit on the territory of the country revoked.

The newspaper's sources claim that, despite this, he continues to have significant financial and property interests in Montenegro, and that he receives income from several media outlets every month. According to the same information, Mandić controls these media outlets through persons who formally manage the companies in their majority ownership chain, and with whom he has close and current institutional and financial-sports ties.

Mandić, an official of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), was detained together with Šijan in mid-February 2021 in Nikšić, ahead of the local elections at the time. Both are former members of the Serbian national handball team.

In addition to them, the police then detained a former MP from the then-Democratic Front political alliance, now an accused member of a police drug cartel, Milo Božović.

Their movements during that period, as "Vijesti" later published based on transcripts from the once-protected Sky application, were also monitored by police officers with police badges.

From the Sky communications provided by Europol to Montenegrin investigators, it follows that at the beginning of March 2021, Mandić was in Trebinje, where, according to the messages they exchanged, Drazen i Ljubo Milović, "welcoming people from Nikšić".

In these correspondences, Trebinje hairdresser Dražen Milović, hidden behind the nickname Sky, Razor, informs his cousin, then police officer Ljubo Milović, that Mandić pays for lunches and board for the groups that come, and a few days later states that 1.000 euros are allegedly given for a vote.

The police officer then, as can be seen from the communication, checked the records of persons crossing the state border.

Mandić is being monitored by numerous services.

A source from an international security agency told "Vijesti" two days ago that Mandić is allegedly being watched by international investigators, as well as Serbian services, as well as Bosnian and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska services.

"International investigators within the framework of certain investigative actions, and Serbian and BiH and RS services due to alleged illegal pre-election activities, i.e. due to the same modus operandi that he applied in election activities in Nikšić in 2021. In anticipation of the upcoming general elections in BiH, his frequent contacts with the leaders of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) are being checked, as well as operational information on the names of persons responsible for buying votes, places of purchase... There is also operational information that they are currently paying up to 500 convertible marks for a vote, as well as information on those who have already 'sold' their vote," said an unofficial source from the international security agency.

Who is Momčilo Mandić?

At the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Momčilo Mandić was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Interior of the then Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later became Minister of Justice in the Bosnian Serb government. He remained in that position until November 1992.

He was later tried before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes against civilians and crimes against humanity, but was acquitted of all charges in 2007.

Two years later, the Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH rejected the Prosecution's appeal and confirmed the acquittal.

In a separate proceeding for organized and economic crime, Mandić was sentenced to five years in prison by the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in late March 2007 for abuse of office or authority and forgery of documents. The proceeding related, among other things, to the operations of Privredna banka Srpsko Sarajevo.

In 2003, Momčilo Mandić found himself under sanctions by the US Treasury Department, which then identified him as one of the important sources of financial and material support for the network of Radovan Karadžić, who was at that time on the run from the Hague Tribunal.

American authorities also linked Mandić's control over the Privredna Banka Srpsko Sarajevo and the ManCo Oil company to this.