The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Ulcinj confirmed to "Vijesti" that it has asked the police in that city to investigate the claims made by the Minister of Spatial Planning, Development and State Property. Slaven Radunović regarding alleged financial fraud committed by a number of previous beach tenants in that municipality.
The National Security Agency (ANB), as confirmed to "Vijesti" by a source familiar with the case, has conducted an assessment of Radunović's security and proposed that he be assigned police security.
"The assessment was carried out after an incident that occurred a few days ago near the Old Town, on the waterfront, when Radunović was verbally attacked and insulted," a source told Vijesti.
This is the epilogue of all the events of last week, when the Government, at the proposal of Radunović's department, decided to launch a new tender for the lease of the Montenegrin coast until 2028.
The minister said last week that analyses showed that the area for some of the leased beaches "was half as large on paper" compared to what the leaseholders used, which is why less money was paid for the lease, and that the situation in Ulcinj is a job for the state prosecutor's office.
Radunović first made these allegations at a press conference on February 12th, and then in the show "Okvir" on the RTCG Public Service last Friday.
Prosecutor's request
"The Ulcinj ODT, in response to the allegations of the Minister of Spatial Planning, Development and State Property of Montenegro presented in the "Okvir" show on RTCG from 14. 2. 2025, ordered the Ulcinj Police Directorate to form a case and to take legally prescribed measures and actions within their jurisdiction in order to verify the announced claims and discover possible perpetrators of criminal offenses. Also, the officers of the Ulcinj Police Directorate for Economic Crime were ordered to request official data from the competent institutions in order to determine whether the beaches were actually used to a greater extent than what was paid for through the lease," the Ulcinj ODT was told yesterday to "Vijesti" in response to the question of whether an investigation had been launched regarding Radunović's publicly announced allegations at the press conference and in the "Okvir" show.
The Ulcinj ODT emphasized that if it is determined that there is a reasonable suspicion that a certain person has committed a criminal offense for which they are being prosecuted ex officio, they will promptly initiate an investigation against him.
At the suggestion of Radunović's department, the government decided last week to launch a new tender for the lease of beaches, which was its legal obligation. This was supposed to be done last year, but as Radunović's predecessor's department Janko Odović did not finish the work on time, the contracts with the old beach tenants were annexed. These former tenants are again demanding annexes to the contracts this year and to pay rent to the state at the prices from 2019, and in the pressure to realize their intentions, they are also threatening to block the Sukobin border crossing on the border with Albania and block the Kamenare - Lepetani ferry line.
The State Audit Institution (SAI) warned the Government in 2023 that revenue from the lease of the waterfront was being lost because contracts with previous lessees with the same prices and conditions from 2019 were annexed, and that the criteria for selecting the most favorable lease offer were defined in a way that reduced the opportunity for all interested parties to apply. The SAI recommended that these irregularities be eliminated.
Asked about some of the former tenants in Ulcinj who want annexes to the contract, Radunović stated at a press conference that there was a particular problem in that municipality because almost all beaches had twice the square footage - than they were actually paid for.
"Whether it was the geodetic houses or the Morsko dobro, I won't go into that. The biggest price increase will be for tenants in Ulcinj," he emphasized, adding that the reason for this was that they had falsified figures, while now they will pay the correct amount of the fee.
He added that the situation in Ulcinj is up to the state prosecutor, but that they will not base the contracts on old documents. He emphasized that they have hired a geodesic company to survey the beaches and determine these discrepancies.
He reiterated that the situation around the beaches is semi-mafia-like due to pressure on everyone involved, and that this is precisely why he could not give municipalities greater authority in this case.
"That would be catastrophic for Montenegro, because municipalities cannot cope with the pressure from those in power," Radunović pointed out, adding that he had received calls in which the mayors asked for tensions not to rise.
From "Sea Evil to Sea Good"
In the show "Okvir", Radunović showed a list of, as he said, eight beaches in Ulcinj whose tenants paid less in fees compared to the area they used.
"It must be understood once and for all that we will have to work according to the law and be equal before the law... I will not read the names of the beaches. One beach paid rent for 10.820 square meters for five years, and used 14300 square meters, only this beach was charged about 20 thousand square meters less. In another case, 13.600 square meters, and used 17.999 square meters. To make it clear to citizens, so that they do not think that something was done at the expense of these people I am mentioning, when the measurement was carried out, it was measured at high tide and it was measured up to the catering facilities in the middle of the beach, and the rest behind that is used for sports and recreation was not charged for and we have now discovered this. Accordingly, we have concluded that in 2019 and similar years, it was not done properly. Let us start working properly and do not put a damper on the wheels when we want to bring the rule of law to this area," said Radunović.
He is on the show to the President of the Municipality of Ulcinj Genci Nimanbegu said - do not defend fellow citizens who you know deserve criminal charges.
Radunović said that the authorities of the Public Company for Coastal Zone Management will not be returned to municipalities, because "they cannot resist the pressure of those in power", and when the host stated that he did not say that when he was in opposition, Radunović said "we had the Seaside Disaster back then".
"The product of today's problem is also the 2019 tender, today it is requested to act on the DPS tender from 2019, where people blackmailed each other to give up or bribed each other to give up. It was a tender mafia that monitored who applied for which tender, put pressure on families, racketed or, in the worst case, gave money to whoever was the strongest to hold out to give up," said Radunović.
He called the question of whether he had the names of people he called "semi-criminals" "ridiculous" and said that he was not "an investigative body of the State Prosecutor's Office." He also said that he had presented some data for beaches in Ulcinj at a press conference, and that if the police and prosecutor's office were interested, the ministry would provide it.
Radunović's New Serbian Democracy also issued a statement yesterday, stating that it "strongly condemns the attack on Radunović in Budva and that this incident shows that there is an attempt to put pressure on those who are determined to stand in the way of lawlessness and crime."
If there are criminal acts on Sukobin, there will be a reaction
"Vijesti" asked the ODT in Ulcinj whether the prosecution can take legal measures against those persons who may organize or participate in road and border crossing blockades and whether these announcements can identify the possible commission of criminal offenses, such as endangering public traffic, obstructing the work of state bodies or putting illegal pressure on institutions.
"Given that the ODT in Ulcinj is competent for proceedings before the Basic Court in Ulcinj, we are not territorially competent for proceedings in the event of possible blockades of the Kamenari - Lepetani ferry line. The ODT in Ulcinj will undertake criminal prosecution against all perpetrators of criminal offenses that are prosecuted ex officio, and for which the Basic Court in Ulcinj has actual and territorial jurisdiction, which of course also applies if there are criminal offenses in Sukobino, a reaction will follow," the ODT said.
As they added, so far no criminal charges have been filed against them regarding irregularities related to the lease of state property on the coast.
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