The protector of property and legal interests of Montenegro, Bojana Ćirović, warned the presidents of the Commercial Court, Mladen Grdinić, and the Chamber of Notaries, Darko Ćurić, that they may be held responsible if they carry out the procedure for the sale of the assets of the company "Vektra Montenegro", which was restarted by the bankruptcy administration, aware that the property issue has not been resolved.
This is stated in the letter that "Vijesti" had access to, and which Ćirović sent urgently after the bankruptcy administration of Dragan Brković's company announced the sale in the daily newspapers, for which bids will be opened on February 29.
At the end of January, the bankruptcy trustee put up for sale the property of "Vektra Montenegro", which also includes the building of the Yugoslav river shipping in Budva. One of the currently most attractive plots of land in Budva - 5.500 square meters of land on the coast, just a hundred meters from the Old Town, on which the dilapidated building of the former Yugoslav River Shipping Company (JRB) of 815 square meters is offered at a starting price of nine million euros.
A year and a half ago, Ćirović also stopped the sale of the land that was advertised by the bankruptcy administrator of the company "Vektra Montenegro", and a review of the chronology of the registration in the cadastre established that the state is still the owner of valuable property in Budva, and that Brković's company is the beneficiary.
"It is more than clear that the bankruptcy administration starts the procedure for the sale of immovable property for which it is aware that the property issue has not been previously resolved, because the owner is the state, and that fact can only be erased in court proceedings. The important fact is that the sale ad does not record the information that the country is entered in the B list LN number 343 KO Budva. I inform the Commercial Court that this kind of behavior and actions of the bankruptcy administration, if it causes damage to the state of Montenegro, will be recourse to that court, while the Chamber of Notaries is informed that in the specific notification to the competent notary that the bankruptcy administration is not authorized to dispose of the assets of the state of Montenegro, so any the certification of such a contract represented abuse and illegal treatment, as well as a basis for the collection of possible damages", warned Ćirović.
After the ad was published, the Secretariat for Property Protection of the Municipality of Budva also reacted, since the building and land were owned by the city six and a half decades ago, and were given for the purposes of the resort. The secretariat headed by Đorđe Zenović sent a letter to the Administration for Cadastre and State Property, demanding the registration of real rights on immovable property in favor of the Municipality of Budva. In the letter, which "Vijesti" had access to, the cadastral plots on which the JRB building is located are listed.
"The documentation required to decide on this legal matter was submitted with the request of the legal entity 'Vektra Montenegro'," the letter says.
At the end of August 2022, Milo Božović insisted that the Municipality return the JRB building to its ownership, after the forced administration in Budva, following the resignation of Marko Carević, appointed him mayor.
Then Božović asked the Public Enterprise for the Management of Marine Resources to buy the dilapidated JRB building, because the Municipality cannot participate in the tender considering that the budget did not provide for the allocation of almost eight million euros, at which the bankruptcy administration valued the property at the time.
"This real estate with the associated land, which is located in the zone of marine property for the Municipality of Budva, is a rare remaining location that has not been devastated and that must be preserved in its existing dimensions. The intention is that this immovable property should be valorized in such a way as to preserve its ambient and authentic character in the function of the public good and in the general interest. The assets of the former JRB were estimated at 7.970.000 euros. The municipality of Budva is currently unable to participate in the sale advertisement because the necessary funds are not provided for in the budget for 2022, and the fact that the Government has made a decision to dissolve the Municipal Assembly is an additional aggravating circumstance. I believe, due to all these reasons, and especially due to the fact that the real estate is located in the area of the public domain, that the Public Company headed by you should participate in the public advertisement for the purchase of JRB, in order to return it to state ownership and prevent further devastation of the area on where it is located," Božović pointed out in the letter.
However, only a month later, the protector Ćirović requested that the auction for the sale of the building, which was announced by the bankruptcy trustee, be postponed until the controversial issue of the property-legal regime on the land that is the subject of the sale is resolved, as it has been established that it belongs to the state. She sent that request to the then Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Ana Novaković Đurović.
The municipality of Budva could return the property worth millions to its ownership without payment, because, through a series of machinations, the former owner, Belgrade businessman Nenad Đorđević, tried to register it as his own. The chronology of entries in the cadastre in the past six decades since the Municipality of Budva ceded to the then JRB, shows that Đorđević sold his company in Budva through his foreign company, and then sold it to "Vektra Montenegro", "Vijesti" reported earlier.
Protector Ćirović told "Vijesta" last year that the important fact, which stems from the chronology of registration in the cadastre, is that in 1959 the Municipality of Budva gave land to JRB for permanent use.
"The same use JRB transfers to a company from Rome owned by Nenad Đorđević. So he does not sell - but transfers, while Đorđević's company from Rome sells the disputed land to his newly founded company in Budva", she pointed out.
Đorđević sold JRB with the land to Brković's firm in 2007 for three million euros, when he also sold the land complex on the island of Sveti Nikola to Stanko Subotic.
Dragan Brković, close to the political top of DPS, traded an attractive property almost two decades ago for three million euros from Đorđević, a former high-ranking official of JUL.
For years, Đorđević intended to turn JRB into a hotel, build a small marina and other accompanying facilities for high-paying clientele. As he was not allowed to do so, because no planning document had been adopted, he decided to sell the property. At the zenith of business success, the company "Vektra" from Podgorica entered the scene.
Even Brković did not manage to realize his visions immediately, during the investment boom, when many foreign businessmen were interested in investing in Budva. On its website, "Vektra" previously had a detailed elaboration of all the projects it intends to implement, including plans for JRB.
Brković pledged this property in the name of a loan of a total of 60 million euros from domestic and foreign banks.
The building has been falling into disrepair for years, and in previous years there have been initiatives from the Municipality to buy it and return it to the ownership of the city.
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