The Real Estate Administration - Budva Regional Unit has issued a decision to enter a dispute led by a representative of the NGO Civic Action in the cadastral records for the entire property of the Hotel Group "Budvanska rivijera". Bozidar Vujicic claiming that the Municipality of Budva was unjustly deprived of assets worth one hundred million euros in the largest hotel company in Montenegro.
This is stated in the decision that "Vijesti" had access to, and which was submitted by Vujičić.
"The registration of the dispute being conducted before the Commercial Court of Montenegro is being made based on the lawsuit filed by Božidar Vujičić against the defendant states of Montenegro - the Government of Montenegro and HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD Budva, in order to establish the absolute nullity of the Share Transfer Agreement of May 15, 1997," the decision states.
As explained, Vujičić submitted a request to the Real Estate Administration to register the dispute over the property of HG "Budvanska rivijera" on all real estate registers on which that legal entity is registered as the right holder.
In practice, the entry of a note on someone's property means that an official note is entered in the cadastre/real estate list (or other public register) that some procedure is being conducted in relation to that property or that there is a certain legal fact that may affect the rights of the owner or future transfers. The Budvanska rivijera hotel group will not sell its property for the time being, but the current initiative is the majority minority shareholder of the Serbian company MK Group, which has proposed restructuring the company - creating two separate companies to which the property would be divided.
"By the decision of the Real Estate Administration of July 28, 2021, the subject request was rejected as unfounded. Vujičić filed an appeal against the aforementioned decision, which was rejected by the decision of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare of November 17, 2021. Vujičić initiated an administrative dispute before the Administrative Court of Montenegro against the final decision of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare. In execution of the judgment of the Administrative Court of March 23, 2023, the Ministry of Finance issued a decision accepting Vujičić's appeal, annulling the decision from 2021 and returning the case to the first-instance body for a new procedure and decision," reads the decision of the cadastre, which issued a decision in the new procedure to enter a record of the court dispute.
We remind you that, as "Vijesti" previously reported, Vujičić, on behalf of Građanska akcija, challenged the Agreement on the Transfer of Shares from HTP "Budvanska rivijera" to the Government before the Commercial Court, claiming that it was concluded contrary to Article 2, paragraph 1, item 20 of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Local Self-Government.
In their lawsuit, the Civil Action pointed out that state property, in the amount of around 160 million German marks, was invested in the Budva Riviera by the Municipality of Budva, that is, the citizens of the Municipality of Budva, by paying taxes, contributions, fees, fees, by transferring municipal land, funds from self-contributions...
"The shares that represented state capital in the 'Budva Riviera' had to be transferred to the Municipality of Budva, not to the Government of Montenegro. From the budget of the Municipality of Budva, based on parliamentary decisions, funds were paid, construction land was ceded, so that by the Agreement on the Transfer of Shares, this state property, which the Municipality of Budva has the right to dispose of and use, was transferred to the Government of Montenegro. The Government sold off most of the hotels, the new owners often fenced off the hotels and registered public paths as internal paths, so that the citizens of Budva allocated taxes, fees, etc. to the municipal budget, only to ultimately lose public roads due to the actions of the Government of Montenegro. By annulling the agreement on the transfer of shares and transferring the shares of the Budva Riviera from the Government to the Municipality of Budva, the municipality would easily settle all obligations to the Government of Montenegro and would still have enough shares left to improve and organize the living conditions of the local population and tourists," Vujičić stated in the lawsuit.
In the past two and a half decades, out of almost ten hotels in the "Budvanska rivijera" Hotel Group, five remained - "Palas" in Petrovac (four stars and 171 accommodation units), the "Slovenska plaža" Tourist Resort in Budva (three plus and four stars with 1.016 accommodation units), the "Aleksandar" hotel in Budva (four stars, 187 accommodation units), the "Castellastva" hotel in Petrovac (four stars, 185 accommodation units) and the "Mogren" hotel in Budva (three plus stars, 49 accommodation units).
The city hotel “Sveti Stefan” was excluded from the Company four years ago, and was entrusted to the management of another government company, “Sveti Stefan Hotels” AD.
And the Municipality folded the sheet
The Municipality, or rather its Secretariat for Property Protection when it was headed by Đorđe Zenović, in November 2023 filed a lawsuit against the Government, the hotel group "Budvanska rivijera", "Sveti Stefan hotela" and the hotel and tourism company "Miločer", seeking to establish the nullity of the share transfer agreement concluded 26 years ago by "Budvanska rivijera" and the Government, which left the Municipality without ownership in the largest tourism company in the country.
The lawsuit also requests the court to issue a temporary measure prohibiting the government from alienating and encumbering shares or stakes in “Budvanska rivijera.” The value of the dispute, as stated in the lawsuit, as previously reported by “Vijesti”, is 22,9 million euros.
"The purpose of the lawsuit is to attempt to correct the injustice done to the Municipality during the suspicious property transformation. The original revenues that the Municipality of Budva gave up in favor of the construction and reconstruction of hotels and other facilities of the "Budva Riviera" have not and cannot be transferred to the state, because this is the money of the citizens of Budva," Zenović told "Vijesti" at the time.
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