The state's response: Counterclaim against the company "Univerzal Monte"

The state responded to the 4,84 million euro lawsuit brought against it by the company "Univerzal Monte" with a counterclaim, so it requests that the mutual termination of the contract on the construction, operation and transfer (BOT arrangement) of the Meljina - Petijevići road be declared null and void.

Contract with the company, behind which stands a Serbian businessman Vuk Hamovic, which built the Meljine - Petijevići road in 2008 under an arrangement based on which it was to be used for 20 years and returned to the ownership of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, was terminated by agreement on May 7, 2021, by the Government of the Prime Minister Zdravka Krivokapića, after which the toll on this section stopped being collected.

At that time, the government tasked the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare to provide four million euros in the budget for the following year for the payment to "Univerzal Monte", due to the premature termination of the contract.

Ministry, which he then managed Milojko Spajic, it did not do that, but at the last session of the former Government on April 20 last year, a conclusion was reached that this money should be paid from the current budget reserve.

At yesterday's hearing in the Commercial Court, the state was represented by the representative of the property and legal interests of the state Slavica Laković which explained that the request from the counterclaim is based on the fact that Krivokapić's Government could not, based on the conclusion, oblige itself to pay the money to the company "Univezal Monte", without previously complying with the procedure stipulated by the Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility.

She emphasized that the mutual termination is considered null and void because the payment of the budget reserve can only be made with the consent of the Government. Laković added that the Government Dritan Abazović, which did not pay the money from the budget reserve, on October 20 last year, charged the Ministry of Finance, which it manages Aleksandar Damjanović, to forward the entire documentation related to this case to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), from which they previously confirmed to "Vijesta" that this was done.

Judge Vladimir Bulatović left "Universal Monte" to the lawyer Mladen Ivanovic legal deadline of 15 days to respond to the counterclaim, so he postponed the preliminary hearing to April 11.

Ivanovic emphasized that the submission of the counterclaim at yesterday's hearing and its reasoning is contrary to the principle of economy of the procedure, that it leads to an increase in costs and statutory default interest, while Laković replied that she is exercising her rights from the Law on Civil Procedure.

"Universal Monte" sues the state in the name of the main claim and demands the payment of four million and 840 thousand in the name of VAT of 21 percent, as well as the payment of default interest from February 1, 2022.

The lawsuit states that the Ministry of Finance undertook to pay the company "Univerzal Monte" four million by January 31, 2022 at the latest, while the company's obligations were to complete the started rehabilitation of the road of about 6,8 kilometers on Kotobilje at its own expense. , as well as to hand over the available documentation for the trip.

In the response to the lawsuit, the claims are disputed in their entirety and it is pointed out that their merits cannot be determined based on the submitted evidence, and it is proposed that the court reject the claim as unfounded with compensation for the costs of the procedure.