The Privatization Agency of Kosovo (KAP) is asking the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro to stop the change of ownership of the real estate of the former social enterprise PIK Kosovo Export Meat Industry-Kosovo Polje, it was confirmed Radio Free Europe (RSE).
The properties are located in Podgorica, Bar and Budva.
As that Agency, in accordance with the law, manages all the former social enterprises of Kosovo, they claim that they are the sole owners of those properties.
According to them, after 1999, these properties were illegally appropriated by the company "Klanica" from Kraljevo, which then sold them.
They asked the Administration for State Property and Cadastre of Montenegro twice to invalidate the contract on their sale, which "Slaughterhouse" concluded in Serbia.
As they refused them, the case ended up before the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro, which is superior to the Administration.
"We filed an appeal to another competent instance, the Ministry of Finance, against the decision of the Podgorica Cadastre Directorate dated January 24, 2023 regarding the change of ownership of PIK Kosovo real estate in Montenegro," the Kosovo Privatization Agency told RSE.
The Administration for Cadastre and State Property, headed by Koča Đurišić, despite several written promises, did not respond to RSE's inquiry about the request of the Kosovo Agency during two weeks of communication.
No answers came from the Ministry of Finance either.
Valuable property PIK Kosovo
We are talking about almost 1.000 square meters of business space in prestigious locations.
There are seven of them in the center of Podgorica with a total area of 700 square meters, of which 500 are on the ground floor of residential buildings, and 200 are in the associated basements.
There is an area of 60 square meters in the center of Budva and 137 square meters in Bar with a 47 square meter basement.
What has happened to real estate since '99?
Since November 1999, the real estate in Montenegro has been managed by the company "Klanica" from Kraljevo through the company of the same name in Montenegro, established that month, with headquarters in Podgorica.
Three years later, in August 2002, another company "Klanica Kraljevo" was founded as part of a foreign company based in Bar, i.e. the Sutomore settlement, RSE found through a search of the Commercial Register.
When bankruptcy was introduced in the parent company "Klanica Kraljevo" in Serbia in the middle of 2019 - properties in Montenegro were sold through bankruptcy proceedings. The public auction was held in Belgrade on February 8, 2022, according to the documentation of the Agency for Licensing of Bankruptcy Trustees of Serbia, which RSE had access to.
The estimated value of the real estate was around 620 euros, and it was sold for slightly less than 240 euros to the Bosnian citizen Anđela Sekulović from Sutomore.
She made the highest bid at the auction out of three participants from Montenegro.
Although Sekulovićka's offer was only 38 percent of the asking price, the sale was approved by the Board of Creditors.
In that period, the average price of office space in the center of Podgorica was around 2.000 euros per square meter, RSE real estate agents announced.
The sales contract was concluded on February 22, 2022, and was certified ten days later on March 4 ( UOP-I 359-2022 ) by the notary Zoran Jovanović from Kraljevo.
"As the subject of the sale was the bankrupt debtor as a legal entity, by paying the purchase price, the buyer acquired the right to 100 percent ownership of the capital ... which includes the entire property of the bankrupt debtor," says the report of the bankruptcy trustee Petar Vulović from Kraljevo, in which RSE had an insight.
From Serbia, it's a completely different story
For Serbia, the company PIK Kosovo (Kosovo Export-ind.mesa with slaughterhouse "Kosovo") from Kosovo Polje does not exist, because it was deleted from the court register on December 31, 1989, it is written in the documentation of the bankruptcy trustee Vulović.
It is further stated that in 2001 PIK Kosovo "illegally sold" real estate in Montenegro to the company "Nacional AD" from Danilovgrad. That company sold the premises in Budva to the wife of the director of "Nacional", Lela Radičević, and she to Željko Perović.
Other business premises in Montenegro were sold to Obren Simović, according to Vulović's documentation dated May 25, 2022, which was prepared for the Agency for Licensing Bankruptcy Trustees of Serbia.
That Agency is the competent body of Serbia that performs "professional and regulatory tasks that regulate bankruptcy".
For all premises in Montenegro, court proceedings are being conducted in order to return the real estate to the possession of the company "Klanica Kraljevo", the same document says.
It does not specify in which courts these proceedings are conducted.
RSE got in touch with Vulović, who said that "for all information, we should contact the Agency for Licensing of Bankruptcy Trustees of Serbia".
Dispute in the cadastre of Montenegro?
The Privatization Agency of Kosovo told RFE/RL that there is a litigation proceeding before the Court in Kraljevo due to the illegal appropriation of the property of a Kosovo company from 1999 by "Klanica Kraljevo".
As they state, they will initiate a dispute before the courts of Montenegro.
This will only be possible when they receive a response from the Ministry of Finance to whom they complained about the change in ownership of real estate, which they claim was approved (registered) by the Podgorica Cadastre Directorate at the beginning of the year.
The Podgorica Cadastre Directorate confirmed for RSE that "PIK Kosovo is not registered as the owner of real estate in Podgorica".
RSE has found that all properties are still owned by the company "Klanice" from Kraljevo, while Željko Perović is listed as the owner of the space in Budva.
RSE failed to get in touch with Anđela Sekulović, who, according to the documents of the Agency for Licensing of Bankruptcy Trustees of Serbia, bought the real estate of the company "Klanica Kraljevo" in Montenegro.
Sekulović is registered in the Commercial Register of Montenegro as the director of "Klanice Kraljevo" with headquarters in Sutomore, which is part of the company of the same name in Kraljevo, which is also owned by her.
According to the data of the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, which were provided to RSE earlier, Kosovo has over 30 property objects in Montenegro, where the owner has changed illegally.
According to the same source, Kosovo owns 163 property objects, that is, social enterprises in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
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