The Commercial Court rejected as unfounded the lawsuit of the German-Austrian company "WTE otpadne vode" that the Municipality of Budva should pay it 23 million euros in the name of unpaid obligations for the maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant. had insight.
The municipality of Budva was represented by AOD "Iustitia", lawyer Vladan S. Bojić, in the marathon dispute.
In January 2020, the German-Austrian concern left the plant in the Vještice neighborhood of Vičići, leaving it in extremely poor condition to the Municipality of Budva for management. Previously, in December 2019, they activated a state guarantee for 29,3 million euros, which was paid to them by the Government of Duško Marković, despite the opposition of the Municipality of Budva. At the time of the political coup that was carried out in the summer of 2020 by a group of councilors led by the DPS, the Government through the Commercial Court blocked the account of the Municipality of Budva and thus made it even more difficult to function...
After packing their bags, the Germans folded the sheet and sued the Municipality, demanding that they be paid 21 euros for the invoices they issued to the local administration from July 2014, 2018 to the end of July 23.107.616,97.
"The claim of 'WTE waste water' DOO Podgorica, in which they requested the court to oblige the Municipality of Budva to pay them EUR 23.107.616,97 in debt, is rejected as unfounded," reads the judgment of Judge Vukčević.
This outcome is considered a great victory in the office of the mayor of Budva, Marko Carević.
"The verdict of the Commercial Court... is a great victory for the Municipality of Budva, as well as for the legal team to which we entrusted the representation in this dispute to the law office of Vladan Bojić. This is proof that the request of the Austrian/German consortium for the payment of the issued invoices for the construction of the plant is unfounded and that these are fictitious invoices that were pumped up to achieve organized corruption between the then officials of the Municipality of Budva and the WTE company. From the first day, we pointed out that this is the most corrupt business in Montenegro, which damaged the budget of the Municipality of Budva and its citizens, which will go down in the annals of corruption affairs in this area. This is a great satisfaction for all the citizens of Budva and is the best proof that we are working in the interest of the citizens", said the cabinet of the first man of Budva.
The verdict of the Commercial Court is only the first step in the legal battle led by the Municipality of Budva, because the WTE company initiated international arbitrations in Frankfurt and Geneva, demanding more than 100 million euros.
Before the Arbitration Court in Paris, division in Frankfurt, WTE Wassertechnik GmbH from Essen, whose daughter company is "WTE waste water", requested the payment of 64.592738 euros under the guarantee/guarantee contract concluded with the former mayor of Budva, Rajko Kuljač.
It is about a "disputed" guarantee from 2010 that does not have the consent of the Budva Municipal Assembly, and because of which the current mayor Carević filed a criminal complaint against Kuljaca and several public figures who participated in this case.
Kuljača denied that he had signed the disputed guarantee, and announced that he had not participated in its making in any way.
At the end of August, Tsarević disclosed that the graphologist determined that Kuljača's signature on the guarantee was forged, and submitted a criminal complaint to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, requesting that it be established who all of the local and state officials were involved in, as he pointed out, the biggest corruption scandal that threatens to paralyze the municipality. Budva.
The Germans have initiated arbitration proceedings in Geneva as well, where they are seeking payment of another 43 million euros.
Carevic called on the VDT to urgently launch an investigation and file an indictment, which would stop proceedings before international courts, but this has not been done so far.
Half a year ago, with the consent of the Assembly, Tsarević strengthened the legal team that will represent the Municipality before the international court. Lawyers Andreas Daxberger, partner att DLA Piepr Weiss from Austria, Alexander Schultmeyer, Counsel DLA Piper Weiss, as well as lawyers Dušana Radosavljević from Belgrade and Miroje Jovanović from Novi Sad, specialized in the field of tax and commercial law and criminal proceedings related to criminal matters, were engaged. acts before the courts of special jurisdiction in Serbia and Montenegro, and the court in Strasbourg.
The municipality of Budva bases its defense before the international tribunal on the claim that it was a corruption case, in which the executive director of "WTE waste water" Ginter Faust participated. He signed a plea agreement before the Special Prosecutor's Office - that he inflated invoices during the construction of the plant. He admitted that he did it so that the head of the Budva criminal group, convicted and escaped Svetozara Marović, would return three million euros of personal debt to a certain Gojko Kapisoda.
Marović has been in Belgrade for years, and Serbia refuses to extradite him, even though the Montenegrin government has requested it on several occasions.
The head of Tsarević's cabinet, Nikola Jovanović, recently in an interview with "Vijesti" invited Marović, former mayor Lazar Radjenović and all municipal officials who participated in the corruption affair of the construction of the plant to help the Municipality of Budva - to agree to testify before the international arbitration courts in Frankfurt and Geneva and save the city from ruin.
The club of councilors of the Democrats recently suggested that Marović should be a key witness.
The new legal team representing the Municipality of Budva is considering calling members of Marović's criminal group as witnesses.
The waste water treatment plant was officially opened seven years ago by then Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and Mayor Lazar Radjenović, and Marović also attended the ribbon cutting.
Faust confessed, then claimed that he was tortured
Ginter Faust subsequently told the investigating authorities in Germany that he was tortured and blackmailed by SDT Milivoj Katnić to accept the status of an accomplice witness and admit that he participated in corruption worth three million euros. Faust was arrested on January 14, 2016, and two days later he proposed to be a cooperating witness, which was accepted, and the High Court passed a verdict...
After Faust left Montenegro, the company WTE launched an internal investigation, and Faust claimed that he was tortured and blackmailed, and that before the SDT and
Gave false testimony to the High Court.
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