There is no investigation on Franović yet, deadlock between Luka and the Commission

The management of the former director of Luka Bar, Zarija Franović, will not be held accountable for last year's falsified half-yearly report on the company's operations, because, according to information available to "Vijesti" from several sources, the final reports sent to the Commission for the Capital Market "got lost between Bar and Podgorica".

The Commission for the Capital Market, as it was confirmed to "Vijesta" yesterday in that institution, could not complete last year's investigation in connection with the semi-annual report and possible manipulations on the stock market with the shares of Luka Bar, because the new Board of Directors, headed by Vojin Žugić, has not yet informed about the final findings of the extraordinary audit and the adopted half-yearly report for 2018.

From the management of Luka Bar, financial director Nenad Vujanović, however, told "Vijesti" yesterday that in the last week of December, after the Board of Directors meeting, they sent the "approved six-month and nine-month report on operations for 2018" to the Capital Market Commission. year".

The President of the Commission for the Capital Market, Dr. Zoran Đikanović, announced yesterday that that institution sought statements from the Board of Directors of Luka Bar regarding the published report, but also that they "did not receive a statement from the Board of Directors that would refer to the auditor's findings or to any measures taken by the Board itself." ".

"Meanwhile, there was a change in the executive director, and then in the Board of Directors of Luka Bar itself," Đikanović announced to "Vijesta" yesterday.

The Commission, however, does not rule out the possibility that it will end this investigation if it receives all the requested data in the following period.

The investigation was launched last summer because of the publicly announced information (on July 13, 2018) of the former director of Luka Bar, Zarija Franović, that the semi-annual profit of Luka Bar will be more than 600 thousand euros.

The Montenegrin Association of Small Shareholders (CAMA) then reported it to the Commission, which is investigating whether that statement resulted in stock market manipulation and a 20 percent increase in Luka's shares.

The external audit, which was hired by the representative of small shareholders on the Board of Luka Aleksandar Jovović, established that instead of the half-yearly profit of 600.000 euros, which the former director Franović publicly boasted about, the company recorded an operating loss of 54 thousand euros during the first half of this year, while the actual half-yearly loss amounted to more than four million euros.

The Criminal Code of Montenegro stipulates a prison sentence of three months to five years for falsely compiling a financial report and misleading the management body of a company.

Former director Franović defended his semi-annual report until the last day of his engagement in that position, claiming that "the persons responsible for financial reporting worked in accordance with the law and the rulebook on the accounting policies of Luka Bar", and that the semi-annual profit was around half a million euros.

He was dismissed from that position at the beginning of October last year. He was succeeded as acting director, temporarily, by Dragan Nikezić, and in the last days of last year, Vladan Vučelić, a high-ranking DPS official from Podgorica, was appointed to the position of executive director.