Answer of "Vijesti" journalist to "ToMontenegro" company: Of course, no settlement was made with "Oki Air"

In response to the text "Vijesti" - "Oki Air won the contract, the whistleblowers were dismissed", from "ToMontenegro" said that it contains a number of unfounded and unargued accusations, however, they are exactly what are found in their response.

They said that "the information about the allegedly calculated claims of 70.000 euros that our company has against the partner "Oki Air" is absolutely incorrect and malicious, for the simple reason that the cross-section of debts and claims is done periodically, i.e. it has not been done yet, and its creation is in progress".

We remind you that the disputed amount of claims that "Oki Air" collected from passengers and did not forward to the state company refers to the second half of last year and according to the contract that expired on May 31 of this year, and that the new contract was signed on June 1. Periodic cross-sections of liabilities are done quarterly or semi-annually, and claims from July last year are disputed here. Business logic dictates that a new contract is not signed until the obligations from the previous contract are settled.

They also say that the authorities are yet to determine whether the member of the Board of Directors, Orhan Hodžić, is in a conflict of interest. When he was appointed to the Board in September of last year, he was the owner of all three companies "Oki Air" that provided services to "ToMontenegro" and the Law on Prevention of Corruption clearly states that he had to report this, but he did not.

After the until recently member of the Board of Directors, Vuk Stojanović, warned his colleagues again at the beginning of May that the contract with "Oki Air" could not be extended, Hodžić began the process of transferring founding and management rights in those companies to relatives and other related persons. This confirms that Hodžić himself knew that he was in a conflict of interest, and that his place on the board was more important than his three companies with millions of sales. However, the Law on the Prevention of Corruption stipulates that the business of a state company with related parties is considered a conflict of interest, as well as that "A government body in which a public official performs a public function cannot conclude a contract with a business company in which the public official and a person related to him has a private interest”.

They also say that it is not true that the Board of Directors previously rejected the proposal to open a branch office at Podgorica Airport so that "Oki Air" would not buy Kajmak, as well as that the actual analysis on the opening of the branch office was never done. According to the documentation, the analysis was submitted to the Board of Directors on January 18, and it was discussed on January 25, and even then Hodžić did not say that he was in a conflict of interest.

They also say that there was no meeting on March 10. A meeting means to meet, to talk, and according to the material that "Vijesti" has, three members of the board of directors and the then executive director met and two weeks before the announcement of the competition, they discussed how to enable the Slovenian to win the competition.