Protector of property and legal interests of Montenegro Bojana Cirovic proposed to the Commercial Court to reject the proposal of the company "Adriatic Properties" for the recognition of the Second Partial Arbitration Decision of the London Court, by which the government company HTP "Miločer" and "Sveti Stefan hotels" in the majority ownership of the state, as well as HG "Budvanska Riviera" and the Ministry of Economic Development , oblige them to jointly pay around 600 euros in court costs before the international tribunal.
"Primarily, I consider that the prerequisites for the recognition of the arbitral award in question have not been met in terms of the law on private international law, the Law on Arbitration and Article V point 2a of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards", she stated in the letter in which "Vijesti" had insight, which was addressed to the judge of the Commercial Court Dijana Raickovic.
The commercial court asked her to comment on the proposal of the company "Adriatic properties", the tenant of the elite resort Sveti Stefan - Miločer, submitted to that court for the recognition of the arbitration decision of the court in London.
Before the International Court of Arbitration in London, the dispute initiated by the company "Adriatic properties" demanding that they be paid 100 million euros in the name of breach of contract is still ongoing. State companies responded with a lawsuit.
The arbitration court recognized the costs so far, which the Montenegrin companies should pay jointly and severally because they lost all the temporary measures they requested and all the previous issues (a total of 20 decisions), except for one request.
Such a decision of a foreign court needs to be recognized before the domestic, that is, the Commercial Court, so that the company of the Greek businessman Petros Statis could start the collection procedure, with possible blocking of the accounts of domestic companies.
The second partial arbitration ordered the company "Sveti Stefan hoteli" to pay the company "Adriatic properties" 226.575,70 pounds, which represents 50 percent of their legal costs. Also, by the same arbitration decision, the company "Sveti Stefan hoteli" and the Ministry of Economic Development were ordered to jointly pay 295.341,45 pounds, which is a total of about 600 thousand euros.
Protector Ćirović pointed out to the Commercial Court that the Court of Montenegro has exclusive jurisdiction in this case.
"First of all, I draw attention to the attempt of abuse of procedural powers by the proponent (Adriatic properties), which consists in presenting incorrect factual claims while at the same time openly denying the existence of facts related to the arbitration agreement contained in the Lease Agreement itself. It is about more than an obvious attempt to "play the law" by the proponent with fraudulent intent, which consists in an attempt to avoid the application of imperative legal norms of the state of Montenegro, by willingly circumventing the application of conflicting norms, by changing decisive facts by artificially creating "points of attachment", i.e. a foreign element and all with the illegitimate goal of obtaining English law," she stated.
She asserted that the Montenegrin court is obliged to take care of circumvention of the application of domestic applicable law and to sanction it in such a way that it will not apply English law in this particular case.
"Because its application aims to avoid the application of Montenegrin law, that is, the law".
The company "Adriatic properties" told "Vijesti" that the position of the protector of property-legal interests is expected and that they expect the Commercial Court to formally recognize the decision of the international court in order to enable the payment of costs.
The government and the tenant of the elite summer resort are negotiating in order to solve the problem of court costs, but also the payment of arrears of rent, and the further management of the "Sveti Stefan - Miločer" complex, which has practically been closed for three years (the villa "Miločer" was open last season).
On the other hand, due to late payment of rent, HTP "Miločer" found itself in an alarming situation. The Revenue and Customs Administration blocked the company due to a debt of slightly more than 48 thousand euros, and the employees of that government company, which manages the land complex in Miločerski Park, where the new hotel "Kraljičina plaža" is being built, have not received their salary, and it is late and with the settlement of all obligations.
The old hotel "Kraljičina plaža" was demolished, and a new one is being built in its place, and on the plot next to it, with an annex and 66 apartments for the market.
The company "Adriatic properties" has concluded a contract with HTP "Miločer" on the multi-decade lease of the former hotel "Kraljičina plaža" and land, in whose name it pays 87 thousand euros per quarter. It is the only income of HTP "Miločer".
In addition to the contract with HTP "Miločer", in 2007 a contract was also concluded with the then owner of the city-hotel "Sveti Stefan" and the villa "Miločer", HG "Budvanska riviera", which gave Statis' company a three-decade lease of the most important tourist facilities on the Montenegrin coast . In the meantime, the ownership was transferred to the company "Sveti Stefan hoteli", to which 380 thousand euros are paid quarterly for rent.
It has already been two and a half years since the company "Adriatic properties" stopped the construction of the new hotel "Kraljičina plaža", as long as the arbitration proceedings are ongoing.
Bonus video:
