The assembly of shareholders of "Plodova Crne Gora" expelled the representative of the state capital, Amra Terzić from the Ministry of Agriculture, from the company's Board of Directors, even though the Government owns 26 percent of the capital and has the right to its own representative.
When asked by "Vijesti" about the work of this company and the cooperation with the Capital, which has 53 percent of the shares, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that they were not satisfied with the functioning of the company or the cooperation with the Capital, as well as that their representative experienced a number of inconveniences just because indicated irregularities.
Terzić was the first representative of the Ministry in the previous five-member convocation of the board of directors, but now, by the vote of the other shareholders, the position of Government representative has been abolished.
"By pointing out the need for a more professional way of financial reporting, the executive director's obligation to comply with mandatory statutory norms, the representative of the state part of the capital during her work in the Board experienced, at the very least, inconvenience in the form of verbal attacks by the executive director and the chairman of the Board of Directors. On that occasion, insults, accusations and open threats were sent to her by the president of the Board of Directors, and everything resulted in AD "Plodovi" launching a private lawsuit against the government representative with extremely untrue and unfounded allegations", stated the Ministry of Agriculture.
"Fruits of Montenegro" was founded in 2004, when the so-called Distribution Center was opened on the road to Tuš, which was supposed to be a purchasing center for agricultural products from Zeta and Malaysia.
The construction of a processing factory in Mataguži was also planned, but only a cold store was built. The State and the Municipality invested over eight million euros in this project.
Now the Distribution Center is leased to the city company Tržnice i Piace, and the cold store to Mataguz trading companies. From that money, the company pays the salaries of the executive director, five employees and fees to members of the board and the audit committee, while the purchase of agricultural products has been absent for years or is minor.
According to the report submitted to the Revenue and Customs Administration, last year the company had revenues of 158 thousand euros from the lease, while the expenses amounted to five thousand more. Half of the expenditure relates only to salaries.
The executive director of the company is Vojislav Đurović, and the president of the board is Veselin Vukčević, who is also the secretary of the Assembly of the capital and the president of the Municipal Election Commission.
"Vijesti" contacted director Đurović three days ago, and he stated that he was abroad. He did not respond to the request to send an email to the company so that questions could be sent to them, nor to the question of when he is returning to Montenegro.
In addition to the Government and the Capital City, which has 52,7 percent of the shares, the company's shareholders with 10,6 percent each are the Association of Agricultural Producers of Fruit and Vegetables "Ratar" from Podgorica and the Association of Agricultural Producers of Malesia from Tuza.
The main activity of the company, defined by the founding agreement, is the purchase, processing and sale of fruits and vegetables. The capital of the company amounts to 8,33 million euros.
"Currently, the entire property of the joint-stock company is leased, which was done years ago, and the business activities are reduced to the collection of monthly rent and the monthly payments to provide salaries to employees and cover other expenses. Although it is a company with multimillion-dollar assets, the balance of operations for the past year was negative. The goal of the Government of Montenegro when financing the cold store was to make it a place for disposal of market surpluses, and not the subject of long-term leases. However, the long-term intention of the management structure to rent storage and other capacities to large trade chains has led to the loss of the basic purpose of the company", the Ministry stated when asked what the company is doing now and how much it bought in the past years.
The refrigerator, which the company's management is now issuing to retail chains, was built with a loan taken out by the Government back in 2006, and loan installments will be repaid from the state budget by the end of 2028.
They state that neither the agricultural producers, for whom the society was founded, nor the state benefit from this way of doing business.
"The government, through its representative in the Board of Directors, pointed out shortcomings and shortcomings in the management of the company during 2021 and tried to articulate a realistic approach to business, which met with a kind of resistance from other members of the Board of Directors. We emphasize that it is unacceptable for this Government that the vision of development and the future business plan do not exist, that is, that there is no work plan and program and measures for the implementation of the company's business policy, which the company's management is obliged to provide", the Ministry announced.
They also state that it is inadmissible for management to prepare financial reporting on operations without an adequate analysis of liquidity and profitability.
"It is surprising that the lessee is not required to submit a product purchase plan for the current year and thereby fulfill all contractual obligations, in order to protect the interests of agricultural producers as much as possible. It is clear that capital is not managed in a sustainable way in this way, and that the interests of farmers are not protected, which was originally the deciding factor for the state with the Capital City and producers' associations to establish this company. In addition, it is even more surprising that the members of the Board of Directors, who are representatives of the association of agricultural producers, do not react to this situation in society", stated the Ministry.
The government is preparing a response to protect property and farmers
The Ministry said that the Shareholders' Assembly of this company refused to accept the Government's proposal for the appointment of a representative of its part of the capital without any legal basis.
"We believe that in this way, first of all, the Capital City of Podgorica, as the majority owner, but no less the other shareholders, showed full disrespect towards the state and its capital, from the use of which they settle their earnings and fees. The Ministry currently has no insight into the work of the company, nor does it have insight into the minutes of the session of the Board of Directors and the Shareholders' Assembly, as well as transcripts from the same, although they have been requested on several occasions. The Government of Montenegro will make a decision based on the relevant proposals of this Ministry on how to proceed with future operations in JSC "Plodovi", in order to protect state property and the interests of agricultural producers", the Ministry announced.
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