Police inspectors have been investigating for months whether someone from the former leadership is from the past Tax Administration illegally, through fictitious invoices, allowed companies to recover more than one million euros in value added tax (VAT)"Montenegro transport Pejović”, which is owned by Danilo Pejović, "Vijesti" learned from several sources.
This company has been operating since 2003 and, as part of its activities, deals with the provision of city, suburban and intercity land transportation services for passengers.
Several sources told "Vijesti" that on several occasions, while at the head of the former Tax Administration, he was Miomir M. Mugoša, VAT was refunded to that company on the same day they submitted the request, and that the refund was predominantly made during the years of Mugoša's mandate.
The new government integrated the Tax Administration with the administrations of customs and games of chance into a single Administration of Revenue and Customs. Mugoša came to head the Tax Administration at the end of 2015 and managed it until the end of last year. The former government granted him a second term in November 2019 after the end of the first term. He is now a member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
Request and return on the same day
In the same investigation, the police also checked whether the background of the VAT extraction was the business relationship that Mugoša's parents had with Pejović - they guaranteed the loan that that company took out to the Investment and Development Fund (IRF). "Vijesti" has access to the complete documentation for this loan.
"Vijesti" contacted Mugoš yesterday on this occasion. He did not even want to listen to the questions of "Vijesti", saying that he "does not contact the media", after which he was told why the journalist was calling him.
"The investigation began due to the suspicion that VAT was returned to the company 'Montenegro prevoz Pejović' on the basis of fictitious contracts, that is, that the criminal acts of tax evasion and falsification of documents were committed. Of course, the investigation also included the Tax Administration, because for the refund of about 1.200.000 no controls were carried out, which they were obliged to establish the facts in order to approve the refund. This lasted for years, and in some cases the refund was made on the same day when he submitted the request", said the interlocutor informed of the investigation.
According to unofficial information, these are fictitious contracts for the procurement of auto parts, fuel, maintenance of means of transport...
According to the law, VAT refunds are made within 60 days, and the government lowered this deadline to 45 days in the spring due to the latest measures to support the economy due to the pandemic.
"Vijesti" learns that the tax inspector, while Mugoša was the head of the PU, controlled Pejović's company and made a report about it, but the former director kept the case in a drawer for more than a year, and handed it over to the administration for further action before leaving of that administration, at the end of 2020.
After that, the police became interested in the case.
Pledge for a loan with the IRF
According to the knowledge of "Vijesti", they are investigating the return of VAT in the period in which Mugoša was the head of the PU, because suspicious transactions were recorded exactly then, that is, from the end of 2015.
A year earlier, the parents of Miomir M. Mugoša guaranteed with land valued at around 140.000 euros that Pejović would return the loan of 140.000 euros he requested to the IRF. It is about urbanized land located in the municipality of Podgorica in the settlement of Donja Gorica. The land has an area of 2,554 square meters and is estimated to be worth 140,683 thousand euros, which is at the level of the approved loan from the IRF.
In August 2014, the Real Estate Administration issued a decision approving the registration of a mortgage over this land in favor of IRF as the mortgage creditor, and "noting the prohibition of alienation and encumbrance without the consent of the mortgage creditor and the prohibition of consent to immediate execution without delay, and in order to secure the monetary claim of the mortgage creditor under the loan agreement of 140.000 euros".
The loan application was submitted by the company "Montenegro prevoz Pejović" in July 2014. The IRF will make a decision on loan approval in August 2014.
Of the 170.000 euros, which Pejović requested for long-term investments for the realization of the project "Investing in the improvement of service quality and capacity expansion", he was granted 140.000 euros for a period of 78 months.
A condition for loan approval is the investor's obligation to employ at least 21 drivers, so that the number of employees at the end of 2014 is at least 30 employees (9 existing +21 new employees), to submit the appropriate form for the IRF request during the entire loan repayment period (IOPPD) on the number of employed loan beneficiaries and that during the loan repayment period it cannot pay dividends to the company owner (founder).
It is impossible, however, for the inspectors to determine whether any criminal offense was committed in that business as well, because the absolute statute of limitations has begun for those they suspected.
One of the interlocutors of "Vijesti" also said that the police must check the dubious sponsorships that Pejović paid to the basketball clubs where the daughter and son of Miomir M. Mugoša train after the VAT refund.
Pejović asked for questions by email, so he did not send the answers
"Vijesti" also contacted Danilo Pejović yesterday, who asked that the questions be sent to his email, which was done. The answer, however, did not arrive.
Pejović was asked whether he was interrogated by the police and the prosecutor's office in connection with the VAT refund to his company, how the company received money on several occasions on the same day when the request for refund was submitted, whether it was possible for it to do so because of a property pledge Mugosha's parents for a loan from the IRF.
The questions for Pejović are whether the former director of the Tax Administration Miomir M. Mugoša is actually behind his company and whether the company used that money to sponsor the basketball clubs where Mugoša's children played.
Bonus video:
