The Germans demand eight million from Budva

At the request of the German company "WTE otpadne vode", the public bailiff issued a decision on the forced collection of eight million euros from the Municipality of Budva and asked the Central Bank to immediately block its account.

The executor accepted the company's evidence - 15 invoices that were submitted to the local administration from the beginning of March 2017 to June 2018 in the name of contractual obligations for the operation and maintenance of the waste water treatment plant in the Vještice settlement in Bečići.

"The proposal of the executive creditor of WTE waste water DOO Budva is approved, based on a credible document - an invoice with a delivery note or other written evidence that the executive debtor, the Municipality of Budva, has been informed of the resulting obligation," the decision on forced collection states.

Mayor Marko Bata Carevic's office told "Vijesti" that they are checking whether the invoices that arrived monthly from March 9, 2017 to June 11, 2018 have been certified, that is, whether the local administration has accepted them.

If there is a "trace" about this in the local administration, the German-Austrian concern will be able to collect another eight million euros, after having collected 29,3 million euros from the state of Montenegro on the eve of the New Year, by activating the guarantee.

In that case, Budva could find itself in serious financial problems, because the municipal coffers would be practically completely emptied. There would be no money to pay salaries to employees, and the investment cycle started by the Tsarević administration would be blocked... He recently stated in a letter to the state, police and prosecutor's office that WTE and "its producers, domestic and foreign, carry out constant and enormous pressure to literally extort 100 million euros in the whole deal, as in the worst scenarios of mafia extortion".

A special police team, on the order of special prosecutor Milivoj Katnić, combs through the complete documentation and the condition of the plant that was abandoned on the last day of January by the workers of the German-Austrian concern WTE/EVN, which "Vijesti" recently wrote about... In the request for compulsory collection, WTE is called to the contractual obligations and contract annexes concluded by the administration of Rajko Kuljača, and then by Lazar Rađenović, to the former mayors from the DPS who pleaded guilty in the corruption scandal that could become the biggest in the history of Montenegro.

For the past three years, the city administration has paid more than 14 million euros to the account of WTE/EVN based on the contract and maintenance of the plant, as well as sludge removal.

The municipality of Budva insists on determining how much money the foreign partner has invested. The consulting company "DR Duhovnik" determined that it was 39 million euros, of which three million euros of proven corruption were deducted. The Germans did not accept such a finding, and after the mixed commission with the mediation of the Government of Montenegro came to similar figures, an ultimatum followed and the express activation of the state guarantee of 29,3 million euros.

The Ministry of Finance then announced that it would instruct the protector of state interests to file criminal charges against those responsible for causing damage to the state and the Municipality of Budva, because major failures were made in the conclusion of the contract itself, the tender procedure, the implementation of the project, the quality of the works and financial activities.

The German-Austrian concern also sent for collection a dubious guarantee for 66 million euros, which someone signed in 2010 in the Municipality of Budva using a facsimile of the then mayor of Kuljača.

On the eve of the New Year, the Special Prosecutor's Office responded to the call of Tsarević, who reported a suspicious guarantee that had arrived for collection, and for which the Municipal Assembly did not have the consent.

If the outcome of the whole affair goes in favor of the foreign company and the guarantee for 66 million euros is activated, which is the amount of the city's budget, the Municipality of Budva would find itself in collapse.

The contract for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant was concluded between the Municipality and WTE in July 2009, and was signed by Kuljača and Rolf Šreder. The signing in the "Splendid" hotel in Vičić was attended by Igor Lukšić, the then Deputy Prime Minister.

Only Rađenović was in prison, Sveto beyond the reach of justice

Rađenović is the only official who was responsible for the wastewater corruption scandal and the damage of at least three million euros. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced.

After pleading guilty, Svetozar Marović, the former vice-president of the DPS, was sentenced as the head of the Budva criminal group, but he did not serve his sentence or pay Budva compensation of 1,1 million euros. Marović has been in Belgrade for years.

The director of "Biochem industries" Stjepa Skočajić - the skipper of the yacht "Kenco" owned by the Marovićs - also admitted the guilt that three million euros were used to repay Marović's personal debt by pumping up the works during the construction of the collector, according to a certain G. K.

Skočajić, who was sentenced by the High Court to half a year in prison and a fine of one hundred thousand euros, admitted that through the company "Biochem industries" he returned three million euros of Marović's debt by increasing the works on the construction of the plant, so that the municipal money was transferred through fictitious contracts diverted to pay off loans...

They also admitted to WTE that they were involved in Marović's malfeasance, so their then director in Montenegro, Faust, was arrested in mid-January 2016 and after 72 hours of detention was released to defend himself. He then left Montenegro and never returned. The key cooperating witness who helped Katnić's team prosecute the case was Kuljača.