Due to new facts that confirm earlier suspicions of corruption during the privatization of the Avala Hotel, I will propose that this privatization be investigated and the participants be heard, the president of the Parliamentary Commission for Monitoring and Control of Privatization, Janko Vučinić, told "Vijesta" yesterday.
"Vijesti" yesterday published part of the judgment of the High Court of Justice from London, which confirmed the ownership of the controversial Montenegrin businessman Zoran Bećirović in the company Beppler&Jacobson following the proceedings he led against his partner in this company.
The verdict states Bećirović's claims that he had a conversation with the then director of the Budvanska Riviera Hotel Company, which was the seller of the hotel, Ivo Armenko, and that he told him that an offer of three to 3,5 million would be acceptable for the purchase of the hotel with an obligation to invest of nine million. As stated in the verdict, Bećirović conveyed this to his partner Igor Lazurenko, after which they submitted an offer of 3,2 million. Lazurenko stated before the court that Bećirović got 20 percent of the shares in Beppler&Jacobson, which bought Avala, because of his friendly ties with Milo Đukanović, another five because of the information he received from Armenko, and one golden share after the Supreme Court's ruling that the Privatization Council must to sign a contract with their company, even though it was ranked second at the time. The Prime Minister's sister Ana Kolarević was in that panel of the Supreme Court.
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Vučinić pointed out that there was a known connection between Bećirović and Đukanović and that Beppler&Jacobson became the owner of this hotel under rather strange circumstances and for a small price.
"The new facts only confirm suspicions that there was corruption in this business with mutual benefit. That is enough for the commission to conduct an investigation and listen to the participants. "I expect that after the already scheduled hearings on the privatization of the New Tobacco Plant, Container Terminals and Gornji Ibar from Rožaj, we will also open this case," Vučinić said.
The advertisement for the sale of Avala was announced on April 22, 2002. Bids were submitted by Beppler&Jacobson, which offered 3,2 million, and the Danish company Merienlist hotels and casinos with 7,5 million. The tender committee ranked the financially better offer as the first, but asked them for additional documentation. Since that documentation did not arrive, the Privatization Council canceled the tender, considering that the second offer was too low. Beppler&Jacobson appealed to the Supreme Court, which accepted the appeal in April 2003 and ordered the Council to sign a contract with them. In November of the same year, the Council, chaired by Milo Đukanović, ordered the Commission to invite Beppler&Jacobson to sign the contract. The privatization contract was signed on January 16, 2004 by the director of the Budva Riviera, Ivo Armenko, and the lawyer of Beppler&Jacobson, Branko Člović.
In front of the English court, he said that they were his course tender for the Budva hotel "assisted" by the authorities: Zoran Bećirović (Photo: Savo Prelević)
The opposition councilors in Budva then calculated that the Avala land of 12.786 square meters on the coast cost this company only 55 euros per square meter, even though the price of municipal land in the same area at the time was 400 euros, and that the square of useful space in the hotel came to them only 109 euros.
Applications for this privatization were previously submitted to the Special Prosecutor's Office by the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector. MANS then received a document from the Ministry of Finance that Avala with the land was valued at six million euros.
Yesterday, "Vijesti" sent a question to the Prime Minister's office to answer what kind of relations it has with Zoran Bećirović and whether he or the Beppler&Jacobson company helped him in any way to get possession of numerous properties in Montenegro. No answer came.
Work for the prosecution
Vučinić reminded that after the investigation into the privatization of HTP Onogošt, the commission adopted the conclusion that they should invite the prosecutor's office to investigate the case and that he hopes that this will be the practice in the future as well.
"MPs are doing their job, and as for the prosecution, I am skeptical that they will do their job professionally in a case where someone from the top of the regime is involved in possible corruption during privatization, as in the case of Avala. I expect that the prosecutor's office in Montenegro will someday be free to do its job professionally. In order for that to happen, it seems necessary to have a change of government," said Vučinić.
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