First Bank of Montenegro canceled the account opened for the purposes of implementing the Loan Agreement with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.
This was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, headed by Minister Aleksandar Stijović.
"This bank came to the conclusion that the account is illegal after the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) took certain actions in order to resolve this issue at the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management," the Ministry's letter says.
The letter states that as a warning from the CBCG, Prva banka failed to obtain the documentation it was required to obtain when opening the account, and proceeded to cancel the Framework Agreement on opening and maintaining a transaction account for national payments and the Framework Agreement on opening and maintaining a transaction account. accounts for the execution of international payments that were concluded with the former Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the purposes of implementing the Loan Agreement with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.
"In the letter that First Bank submitted to this Ministry, it is stated that upon the termination of the contracts, all legal consequences resulting from them cease and the open account is terminated on that basis. The funds that were in the account, which is terminated after the termination of the said contracts due to cancellation, will be transferred to a temporary account with this Bank".
At the request of former Minister of Agriculture Petar Ivanović, First Bank concluded contracts on opening and maintaining accounts with the former Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, without the Ministry of Finance.
Based on that, an account was opened to which the funds from the loan from the aforementioned contract were paid and from which transactions were made in the previous period.
"The money from the loan was not posted anywhere, that is, it was not shown in the final budget account for any year, nor was it recorded with the Investment and Development Fund, which is the borrower, and for years past funds from the same have been disposed of without being recorded in the system of state payments," they said from Ministries.
The Ministry states that, "although the prosecutor Marija Raspopović concluded in advance that there are no obstacles to the disposal of the account, thereby publicly stating her position on the ongoing procedure and thereby prejudging the outcome of the same", the actions of Prva Banka are clear evidence that the account was was opened illegally, as well as that all actions related to that account were undertaken illegally.
"The complaint of this Ministry about the actions and omissions in the work of the prosecutor Raspopović is before the Prosecutor's Council, from which we still do not have feedback. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management previously approached the CBCG in order to solve the problem, all with the aim of finding a proper and legal solution for the entire procedure until the final repayment of the loan, since the inherited practice is not in accordance with the law, which the final closing of the account proves," the letter concludes.
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