Head of the Financial, General and Support Services Department of the Ministry of Defense Marko Drobnjak, who is on trial on suspicion of damaging the state budget by 31.220 euros, will be suspended until the end of that procedure.
"Vijesti" was told this by the department headed by Dragan Krapović (Democrats).
"Today (Wednesday, ed. aut.), in accordance with the Law on Administrative Procedure, an official interview was conducted with Marko Drobnjak and a decision will be made that will restrict his performance of duties until the completion of the criminal proceedings by prohibiting him from performing duties in a state body (suspension)," the Ministry stated, adding that the decision will be made in accordance with the deadlines prescribed by the Law on Administrative Procedure.
The Basic Court in Podgorica told the newspaper that the case against Drobnjak has been formed and is in the main trial phase.
"Vijesti" announced at the end of February 2022 that the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) had dismissed the Ministry of Defense's criminal complaint against the former head of that department. Predrag Bošković and former officials of that ministry Mihail Volkov i Alma Ljuljanaj Jovićević, assessing that Bošković did not form a criminal organization that damaged the state budget through fictitious orders, through a travel agency. However, the report against Drobnjak was not dismissed.
According to the SDT, Drobnjak is responsible for the misuse of state money, and is also suspected of misleading Bošković, Ljuljanaj Jovićević, and Volkov.
"In relation to the reported Marko Drobnjak, Head of the Finance Service at the Ministry of Defense, and unidentified persons from the tourist organization 'Marco Polo travel agency', your criminal report has been submitted to the jurisdiction and further proceedings of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that he committed the continued criminal offense of abuse of official position... and unidentified persons from the tourist organization 'Marco Polo travel agency' committed the continued criminal offense of abuse of position in business operations," the SDT decision states.
It was explained that Drobnjak had the status of an official, but not a public official, and that this case was not within the jurisdiction of the SDT, also because the acquired material benefit did not exceed 40.000 euros.
Former Minister of Defense Olivera Injac (Europe Now Movement) filed a criminal complaint at the end of June 2021 for illegal spending of state funds during the term of its predecessor Bošković. She wrote that the reported individuals used false orders, through an agency, to pay for seminars that were never held...
Three seminars in two weeks
Special prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic (who has since been arrested and suspected of creating a criminal organization) stated in the explanation of the SDT's decision that he had questioned several people during the investigation, in his capacity as a citizen. However, Bošković and Volkov are not on that list.
On August 4, 2021, Drobnjak told the prosecutor that he was not in charge of providing hotel accommodation for foreign delegations, seminars, workshops... He also said that on December 1, 2020, the travel agency sent them an invoice for hotel accommodation in the amount of 4.620 euros, but that the Ministry of Defense has an almost daily need to provide hotel accommodation, which is why he made the payment.
He gave the same explanation for the payment for seminars allegedly held at the Hilton hotels from July 15 to 18, 2020, the Splendid from the 20 to 23 of the same month, and the Ramada a few days later - from July 27 to 30.
"He says that the invoices were paid in accordance with the contract, given that the information on the invoice matches the contract concluded with the 'Marco Polo' agency. His job description did not state whether or not seminars were held, nor was he obliged to check before paying for the aforementioned or similar invoices," the case files state.
Đorđije Brajović, who was questioned in this case, admitted to the prosecutor that his agency “Marco Polo” did not organize these seminars, explaining that he wrote the invoice according to Drobnjak’s instructions, and then transferred the money to the account of the agency “2R travel”. He explained the same for the payment for the overnight stay at the “Hilton” hotel, but also for the invoice they received from the company “VL Mobile”, which amounted to 5.511,5 euros.
"The goods listed in the invoices were not received by their agency, nor were they delivered to them," he told the prosecutor, adding that Drobnjak had also informed him at that time that he would receive an invoice from the supplier.
Director of “VL Mobile” Goran Radusinovic, however, claimed that they had provided the agency with electronic devices, and the director of “2R Travel” Radmila Bulajic said that she collected the debt from the Ministry with invoices for seminars that were not held. Employees of three Montenegrin hotels - Andrija Pešić, Milica Vuković i Bojan Kovačević They said that during the period indicated in the invoices, no travel agency, nor the Department of Defense, organized any seminars with them.
Although it was established that the services invoiced were not provided, that Bošković and Volkov issued a certified payment order, and that Ljuljanaj Jovićević certified a statement that the service had been performed, the prosecution found no grounds to prosecute them. The prosecutor assessed that Bošković, Volkov, and Ljuljanaj Jovićević, when approving the payment from the state account, could not have known whether the services listed in the invoices were actually provided or not.
"In this specific case, of the reported persons who held certain positions in the Ministry of Defense, only Marko Drobnjak knew about it," the decision states.
"Fake rallies" during the pandemic and after the fall of DPS
Injac stated in her criminal complaint that the "fake rallies" were organized during the coronavirus pandemic, and some after the parliamentary elections held on August 30, 2020, in which the party whose official is Bošković, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), was left without power after three decades.
In the application to the SDT, the suspicion is expressed that the money paid to the agency was subsequently divided among themselves by the "criminal group" and that it was about payments of 4.000, 5.000 and 6.000 euros each.
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