The mother of former Minister of Agriculture Petar Ivanović has a large amount of property listed in public records, which includes over 150 square meters of various land, two family houses, one weekend house, three residential spaces in Podgorica and one residential space in Bar, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Action for Social Justice (ASP) announced today.
"At the same time, the eighty-three-year-old is officially the sole owner of the company 'I-Wine', which was founded in Podgorica at the beginning of 2018 for the production of grape wine. At the end of 2023, the value of the company's buildings and equipment was shown at 2,4 million euros," the statement said.
The ASP added that according to domestic regulations, cadastral and other public records must be completely reliable and accurate.
"The largest part of the various lands, which are registered with the mother of the former Minister of Agriculture, is located in Doljani, Podgorica, of which over 15 thousand square meters are shown to be vineyards. The basis for acquiring the land, which is shown in public data as meadows, pastures, fields, yards, is either inheritance or purchase. Part of the land is encumbered with a mortgage for a loan from the Investment and Development Fund (IRF) of 1,1 million, which was approved in 2019 to the company 'I-Wine' for the wine industry. Ivanovic's mother is a first-rank mortgage debtor. Ivanovic is registered as a second-rank mortgage debtor," ASP said.
The NGO said that the mother of the former Minister of Agriculture also owns two family residential properties in public records, as well as three residential spaces in Podgorica and one residential space in Bar.
"Petar Ivanović is currently in custody in Spuž, due to accusations by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) for illegal payments from the Agrobudget at the time when he was Minister of Agriculture. He was arrested a little over a month ago, and at that time it was announced that the investigative authorities spent two days searching the property belonging to him and his family members. The SDT had previously filed an indictment against Ivanović for a well-known scandal regarding the illegal granting of loans from the Abu Dhabi Fund, and the indictment was confirmed in October last year," the ASP said.
It is alleged that the former Minister of Agriculture officially owns over three and a half thousand pieces of real estate in Doljani, with one family residence and one auxiliary building, as well as residential space in Kotor.
"Public records show that his wife owns land and residential space in Herceg Novi and residential space in Cetinje. Part of the Ivanovic family's residential properties is burdened with credit mortgages," the statement reads.
The ASP also said that the former Minister of Agriculture lists his wife as a member of the joint household in his property report.
"According to the current Law on the Prevention of Corruption, public officials only report the assets of family members who are in the same household," said the ASP.
The NGO says that a significant part of the non-governmental sector and the interested public have long been indicating that in Montenegrin conditions, officials should be obliged to report the property of their closest blood relatives, and not just those who are shown as household members, so that the acquisition of property by their closest relatives can be monitored and whether they were able to acquire it from their regular income.
"However, this request was never adopted through a binding legal norm. Amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption are being discussed publicly this month," the ASP said.
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