In the Basic Court in Podgorica, the process that doctor Aleksandar Nikolić leads against the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG) and the Health Insurance Fund of Montenegro (FZOCG) is ongoing due to the alleged non-fulfillment of obligations from the contract signed back in 2009.
Nikolić already received compensation in earlier proceedings, although many witnesses suspect that the contract with him, which was kept secret for many years, was suspicious because, among other things, in addition to his salary, Nikolić provided that for every operation performed at the Center for Cardiac Surgery gets 500 euros. And whether he operates, or someone else. This clause from the contract was repeatedly questioned during the court proceedings. There were also claims that Nikolić, at the time when the job at KCCG was agreed upon with him, did not have the necessary license for a cardiac surgeon.
Doctor Nikolić is represented in marathon disputes by the office of Ana Đukanović (sister of the former president of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović).
Based on this contract and judgment, the doctor should have received over 800 euros by now. In the ongoing procedure, Nikolić requests that KCCG and FZOCG jointly pay him another 200 thousand euros.
In 2009, together with the leaders of health at the time - Minister of Health Miodrag Radunović, Director of FZOCG Ram Bralić and Director of KCCG Olivera Miljanović Nikolić signed Contract 626, in which Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) had an insight that opens up many dilemmas.
CIN-CG tried to get in touch with Dr. Nikolić, but he did not answer the questions until the publication of this text.
Radunović, Bralić and Miljanović did not answer numerous questions either.
Nikolić took over the Center for Cardiac Surgery in 2008, after the first director of this center, doctor Srđan Pavićević, was dismissed, and surgeons Aleksandar Mugoša and Aleksandar Radović worked there.
Secret contract
The Center for Cardiac Surgery at KCCG was founded in 2003, but five years later, the health authorities, dissatisfied with the long waiting lists and the small number of operations performed, decided to hire surgeon Nikolić from Serbia.
In mid-August 2008, Nikolić was elected to the post of subspecialist physician of the Department of Cardiac Surgery for an indefinite period, and at the beginning of the following month, he was appointed director of the Center for Cardiac Surgery.
At the same time, Nikolić also works at the Filip Vtori Special Hospital in Skopje, which no one in KCCG questions. Due to the fact that his family lived in Serbia, the management of KCCG, in addition to a high salary, also approved the payment of monetary compensation for living separately.
According to Contract 626, Nikolić had the obligation to educate, introduce European protocols, as well as all cardiac surgical operative techniques, to update waiting lists, as well as to organize and implement 300 cardiac surgical operations on an annual basis.
The contract, which the public learned about only five years later, in 2014, caused a great storm among Nikolić's colleagues in the KCCG, as well as the public, and it was also discussed in the Parliament of Montenegro.
At the current trial in the Basic Court in Podgorica, it can be seen from the court files that three former directors of KCCG claimed that they did not know about the contract with Nikolić for a while.
The former director of KCCG Milan Mijović, who held this position from June 2011 to April 2015, stated at the trial that the mentioned contract did not exist in the archives of this institution, and that he found out about it at the end of 2011, when a copy was delivered to him by the then director of the FZOCG, Kenan Hrapović.
"I consulted with our lawyers and lawyers that in this particular case, Dr. Nikolić cannot be paid twice on the same basis," said Mijović at the trial, underlining the fact that Nikolić had both a salary and additional money for the operation.
The director of KCCG, who held that position from April 2015 to December 2016, Ranko Lazović, made a similar statement. Lazović also stated that "he is not aware that Nikolić, in accordance with the mentioned contract, organized any seminars or that he trained the staff of KCCG".
Lazović's successor, Zorica Kovačević, who was the head of KCCG from the end of 2016 to August 2018, said in court that it was the first time she heard about the disputed contract.
"I found Nikolić at KCCG, and he was working for three months during my term of office, he quit and used his right to vacation. I found bad interpersonal relationships in cardiac surgery," Kovačević said in court.
She also pointed out that pressure was put on her after Nikolić's departure and court decisions regarding his compensation for the previous period.
"How to explain to other doctors who work in the operating room these decisions of the court and the fees that went to Dr. Nikolić", stated Kovačević.
Unusual court decisions
After arriving at the head of the KCCG, Mijović stopped paying Nikolic compensation of 500 euros for each operation performed at the Center. That's why Nikolić sued KCCG, FZOCG and the state and won the case in 2012. Then the Basic Court in Podgorica, more precisely Judge Danilo Jegdić, accepted part of Nikolić's claim and awarded him 234.433 euros that should have been paid to him by KCCG and FZOCG, based on the operations performed - Nikolić and other doctors at the Center. This court rejected the claim against the state as unfounded. At that time too, Nikolić was represented by Ana Đukanović's office.
This court also established that in the period from July 1, 2011 to September 1, 2012, 441 cardiac surgical interventions were performed in Nikolić's department, for which he was not paid the agreed fee. KCCG contested the lawsuit, stating that these interventions were carried out, but that Nikolić was not entitled to compensation for all the operations, but only for those he personally performed, and there were 201 of them.
In February 2013, the Higher Court in Podgorica, i.e. the then president of the council Branimir Femić and members Radojka Nikolić and Natalija Filipović, annulled the verdict of the Basic Court and sent it back for a retrial.
"The disputed provision of the contract in question does not fully and clearly regulate the obligation of the defendants with regard to the operations performed", it is stated in this judgment.
In July 2013, Judge Jegdić made the same decision again, with the explanation that it is not important whether the operations were carried out by him or by someone else.
The High Court in Podgorica, judge Ranka Vuković, president of the panel and members Verica Sekulić and Snežana Aleksić, in October 2013 confirmed this verdict of the Basic Court.
In its appeal against that decision, KCCG states that Nikolić was employed at that institution, and that his job description was to perform surgeries and that the court wrongly estimated that he should be paid an additional 500 euros per surgery. KCCG also claimed that Nikolić did not fulfill his obligations under the contract and did not submit updated patient waiting lists.
The Supreme Court of Montenegro, in a panel composed of President Radoj Orović, members Vesna Begović, Dušanka Radović, Dragica Milačić and member Gavrilo Čabarkapa, rejected in early April 2012 as unfounded the revision requested by the new KCCG administration. That court concluded that by the contract in question, the parties intended that Dr. Nikolić be entitled to the agreed amount for all operations, regardless of whether he personally performed them or not, because the agreed amount did not only refer to the operations but also to other contractual obligations.
Samardžić rejected the criminal charges against Radunović, Bralić and Miljanović
In 2014, a member of the Parliament of Montenegro, the late Jelisava Kalezić, based on her knowledge, submitted a criminal complaint to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) against Radunović, Bralić and Miljanović who signed Contract 626 with Nikolić for the criminal offense of abuse of office, which the then special prosecutor Mira Samardžić refused.
It is interesting that Samardžić, in the explanation of the Decision on the dismissal of this criminal complaint from 2015, which CIN-CG had insight into, states that Contract 626 was not concluded in accordance with the Law on Labor and by-laws, but that "the reported persons (Radunović, Bralić and Miljanović) did not act deliberately, that is, they did not conclude the contract in question in order to cause damage to another or seriously violate the rights of another, nor that any person acquire property benefit".
Samardžić even concludes that from the documentation of the Ministry of Health, KCCG and FZOCG, it is established that by concluding this contract, the state of Montenegro achieved savings at least in the name of the costs of referring patients to cardio centers outside the country.
The contract is "valid" even when it has expired
Nikolić continued to win in court.
The basic court in Podgorica, i.e. judge Aleksandar Stanojević, issued a decision in mid-October 2015 by which KCCG and FZOCG are jointly and severally obliged to pay Nikolić for the unpaid fees for services from Contract 626 for the period from September 1, 2012 to March 4, 2013. - 43 euros and about 500 based on interest.
Although Contract 626, on the basis of which the court awarded Nikolic the money, was valid for four years and expired on March 4, 2013, the Basic Court in Podgorica ruled that he should be paid the amount for the period from March 4, 2013 to February 27, 2015. of 183.000 euros and about 15.000 based on interest.
In April 2016, the higher court in Podgorica, i.e. the panel consisting of Magdalena Zečević, Vjera Šljivančanin and Radonja Radonjić, confirmed the verdict of judge Stanojević, except for the part that Nikolic should also be paid the amount for the period after the end of the contract. This court also found that after the expiration of Contract 626, no new contract was concluded, nor was there an annex to the previous contract, and therefore the first-instance court made the wrong conclusion that there was a tacit consent of the contracting parties for the extension of the contract in question. The verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Montenegro, the president of the council, Radoje Orović, and members Vesna Begović, Dragica Milačić, Ranka Vuković and Nataša Božović, in October 2016.
On April 23, 2018, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro annulled the judgment of the Supreme Court and sent it back to this court for retrial. It was argued that Nikolić's right to a fair trial was violated. That court, i.e. the president of the council Desanka Lopićić and the members Milorad Gogić and Hamdija Šarkinović again, at the beginning of November 2020, approves the constitutional appeal and cancels the judgment of the Supreme Court and the case is returned for a new procedure.
The Supreme Court, more precisely the president of the council Vesna Begović and the members Dušanka Radović, Ranka Vuković, Radojka Nikolić and Nataša Božović, at the end of April 2021, approves the review and cancels the judgment of the High Court which challenged Nikolić's claim after the contract expired.
The higher court, i.e. the president of the council Senka Danilović and member Ognjana Boljević and member Radoje Radonjić, at the beginning of September 2021 confirms the first-instance verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica in the part of the costs awarded to Nikolić after the contract expires.
Current process
Jelena Anđelić is the judge in the trial that is now before the Basic Court in Podgorica. In Nikolić's lawsuit, it is stated that, along with regular medical engagement, he provided services from Contract 626 for almost eight years - from March 4, 2009 to March 1, 2017.
It was specified that "he performed his duties in accordance with the Agreement 626 continued to perform until 2017, and that the defendants (KCCG and FZOCG) fully accepted the performance of obligations by the plaintiff".
In the lawsuit, it is suggested that the court make a decision by which "KCCG and FZOCG are obliged to, on the basis of the debt for the unpaid fees according to the Agreement 626 for the period from February 27, 2015 to March 1, 2017, jointly and severally pay the amount that will be specified after the expert examination". It was stated that the value of the dispute is 200 thousand euros.
The emphasis in the lawsuit is on the decision of the Constitutional Court that the litigants tacitly extended the duration of the contract and that Dr. Nikolić has legitimate expectations regarding the payment of benefits.
The representative of FZOCG stated that he was taken aback by the claim, because the contract ceased to be valid in March 2013, while the lawyer of KCCG pointed out that Nikolić, as a cardiac surgeon, performed all these tasks without a license, which he applied for in 2018, and only received in 2021 in Serbia .
In his statement in court, Nikolić said that the contract was respected in the first three years, and that based on that commitment, he also received Montenegrin citizenship.
Kenan Hrapović, in his capacity as a witness in the current proceedings before the Basic Court, stated that the obligation of the FZOCG was to submit evidence of the operations performed with the consent of the director of the KCCG.
"And everything went like that until Nikolić submitted the documentation about the operations, but without the consent of the director of KCCG, which was an obligation under the contract. That's when the payments stopped," Hrapović said, noting that he thinks Milan Mijović was the director at the time.
Miodrag Radunović stated in his statement that Nikolić performed 1.930 open heart surgeries with excellent results. He recalled that in the conversation with the director of KCCG, Mijović, and the director of FZOCG, Hrapović, they could not make a decision and could not sign the annex to the contract. After this, Nikolić silently continued to work at KCCG.
Minister of Health from March 2015 to October 2016 Budimir Šegrt announced in court that after the expiration of the Agreement 626 raised the question of its extension.
"The initiator of the extension of the contract and the proposal to the government was former minister Radunović, the signatory of the contract from 2009. The government made a conclusion, but the annex to the contract was not signed by KCCG and FZOCG", said Šegrt.
He also stated "that he assumed that Nikolić was the first educator in the field of cardiac surgery to his colleagues Aleksandar Mugoš and Aleksandar Radović". However, a little later, he says, he determined that Nikolić could not train them "because they already had a formal legal certificate that they had mastered the knowledge and skills to independently perform work in the field of cardiac surgery."
Cardiac surgeon Aleksandar Mugoša said that he was shocked to learn that Nikolic was paid 2014 euros by 554.054 and a plus amount of 247.959 euros based on final judgments of the Basic Court in Podgorica.
"After arduous study and work, I realized that for my work I was paid three and a half to four euros per hour, while Nikolić worked for the amount of 20 thousand euros per month, with the fact that he was present in Montenegro for only nine working days, so it turns out that he worked for 40 thousand euros a month", he said.
Cardiac surgeon Aleksandar Radović, the current director of KCCG, stated in court that Nikolić was not his mentor, nor that he ever trained him.
"Nor could he".
He claims that Nikolić did not specialize in cardiac surgery in the period from 2015 to 2017.
"I consider this case to be one of the biggest crimes in Montenegro," cardiac surgeon Srđan Pavićević, the current Vice President of the Government of Montenegro, said as a witness in the Basic Court in Podgorica at the beginning of April this year.
"Nikolić neither trained me, nor was he a mentor to me, nor was he a mentor to my colleagues Mugoš and Radović due to the fact that, according to my knowledge, Nikolić did not become a cardiac surgeon until 2021 or 2022," Pavićević said.
He pointed out that in the Center for Cardiac Surgery, Nikolić did not introduce practices that had not been done before.
“Nor did he do surgeries that we routinely did, such as bypass surgery on a beating heart. Nikolić concluded the contract in a very specific way that is not recognized by legal legislation, because according to all contracts, the employee would be obliged to be present 30 days a month as the chief, and Nikolić was present for 10 days and absent for 20 days, because he worked in Macedonia . While he was working in Macedonia, and we were performing operations, he was paid 500 euros for each operation," Pavićević said.
The next hearing in this process is scheduled for the beginning of July 2024.
License dispute
The question is whether, at the time when he signed the contract with KCCG, Dr. Nikolić formally met all the requirements for the work of a cardiac surgeon specialist at that institution, that is, whether he even had a license as a cardiac surgeon at that time.
In March 2014, member of the Parliament of Montenegro Jelisava Kalezić asked the then Minister of Health Miodrag Radunović a parliamentary question:
"Which institution or its representative initiated the conclusion of Agreement 626, of which you are a key signatory? On the basis of which elaboration was the decision made to hire Nikolić in the manner provided for in this contract, even though according to the Law on Health Care, as well as the Rulebook of the Medical Chamber of Montenegro, he did not have the right to a license for subspecialist cardiac surgery?".
Nikolić himself does not state that he completed his specialization in cardiac surgery. In his biography, which is available on the website of the University of Montenegro (UCG), it is stated that he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad in 1990, and that in the period from 1991 to 1995 he specialized in general surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad. Sadu. His master's and doctoral theses relate to topics in cardiac surgery.
He trained professionally in Ohio, USA for six months in 1998, as well as in 2000 in Milan, and in 2003 in Monaco, where he also spent half a year.
The Medical Chamber of Montenegro (LJKCG) issued Nikolic a license to work as a specialist in general surgery-cardiovascular surgery, for the first time in 2008 for one year.
The license was signed by the then president of LJKCG, Đoko Jočić, who, after the scandal surrounding Nikolić's license broke out during the court process, explained at the end of 2013 that before Montenegro, Nikolić had obtained a license from the Regional Medical Chamber of Vojvodina and the Macedonian Medical Chamber.
"At that time, the Ministry of Health formed a commission of eminent experts and a decision was made that his professional training could be treated as a specialization in cardiac surgery and that he receive the title of cardiac surgeon," Jočić said.
Jočić was soon denied by the Minister of Health Radunović himself, who, in March 2014, in response to a question from MP Kalezić, said that "the Ministry of Health has never formed a commission that would eventually decide on the recognition of the subspecialization in cardiology of Aleksandar Nikolić".
In 2009, the Medical Chamber of Serbia (LKS) issued Nikolic a general surgery specialist's license for a period of seven years. The Regional Medical Chamber of Vojvodina issued him a license as a specialist in general surgery - cardiac surgery in December 2010.
In March 2011, the LKS announced that the Medical Chamber of Vojvodina issued a license to Aleksandar Nikolić without a corresponding diploma in cardiac surgery subspecialization. It was stated that no medical faculty in Serbia has issued the disputed diploma and that the decision of the Regional Medical Chamber of Vojvodina on the fulfillment of the conditions for its issuance is illegal.
"LKS will not allow anyone to get a license for a degree of knowledge that they do not possess, because a doctor with such a license can put patients in danger by treating them with inappropriate methods and methods," said doctor and then director of LKS Tatjana Radosavljević.
For the purposes of this text, CIN-CG contacted LKS again and asked for information on whether and when Nikolić received a license as a specialist in cardiac surgery and on the basis of which specialization. Even after a long wait, by the time this text was published, the answer had not arrived.
Nikolić's academic career
Aleksandar Nikolić is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montenegro (UCG) in Podgorica, whose dean is Miodrag Radunović, during whose ministerial mandate Nikolić was hired, and who is with the Government and initiated the contract that provides him with 500 euros after the operation, extend it.
Nikolić was elected to the academic title of assistant professor in July 2015, during the term of office of UCG rector Radmila Vojvodić.
In June 2021, UCG Rector Vladimir Božović signed a decision electing Nikolić to the position of associate professor for the surgical group of clinical medical subjects and the group of introductory medicine subjects.
On the UCG website, it can be seen that Nikolić teaches the following subjects - medical ethics, trauma surgery, surgery, ethics in nursing, history of medicine, clinical skills, teamwork and communication.
Bonus video:
