The state of Montenegro requests that the former assistant to the dismissed director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption Nina Paović return the apartment that she got on favorable terms, because she did not stay at her workplace in the Basic Court of Cetinje for five years, as was stipulated in the contract.
In the lawsuit filed by the institution of the Protector of Property and Legal Relations, it was stated that in October 2018, Paović was with the then president of the Basic Court of Cetinje Jelena Perović contract for the sale of an apartment measuring 48 square meters and the associated storage room of less than seven square meters at a price of 18.419 euros.
Perović was dismissed as the director of ASK in August. She has been under house arrest since mid-April because the Special State Prosecutor's Office accuses her of abusing her official position and damaging the state budget by more than 100.000 euros, through the allocation of variables to herself and a selected circle of officials, as well as compensation for work in the Agency's working bodies, overtime and work on holidays... "Vijesti" was confirmed by SDT in mid-August that they are also investigating Paović.
"In the Special State Prosecutor's Office, criminal proceedings are ongoing against the defendant NP, the assistant director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, for the prolonged criminal offense of abuse of official position, committed as a co-perpetrator, initiated by the order to expand the investigation that is being conducted against the defendant, the former director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption ", was told at the time to the editorial staff from SDT.
Perović was appointed as the director of ASK in 2020, and Paović was chosen as the first associate.
What is written in the state's lawsuit
The protector states that Paović, as a civil servant - independent advisor I in the Basic Court in Cetinje, was allocated an apartment based on an advertisement for solving the housing needs of civil servants and employees in that institution.
"...On the occasion of which, in the capacity of the buyer, she concluded a contract for the sale of real estate under favorable conditions with the Basic Court in Cetinje - the seller... the object of which is an apartment and a storage room of 48 square meters and seven square meters, and which contract and its annex were concluded based on the decision of the president of the Basic Court in Cetinje...", it was explained in the lawsuit, and the advertisement, decision and contracts were submitted as evidence.
It is pointed out that after the procedure, the then president of the Cetinje court, Jelena Perović, issued a decision, which determines that Paović has the right to purchase a residential unit, the price of which is 18.419 euros. According to the decision, Paović should pay that amount to the private partner from the Public-Private Partnership Agreement within 15 days from the date of conclusion of the agreement.
"From the ruling of the Basic Court in Cetinje dated November 30, 11, it is determined that the defendant's employment ended on November 2020, 30, at her request from the same day," the state's lawsuit states.
In the lawsuit, the protector refers to the provisions of the Decision on solving housing issues of civil servants and state employees.
"...Which stipulates the obligation of civil servants and employees to return the apartment, loan, or construction land to the lender of the apartment loan, i.e. construction land, or to compensate the market value of the apartment, i.e. construction land, in the event that they voluntarily terminate their employment with the authority that assigned them the apartment , loan, i.e. construction land, or to another authority from Article 1 of this decision, before the expiry of the period of five years from the date of conclusion of the agreement on the purchase of an apartment or construction land, i.e. the loan agreement... apartment and concluding a contract for the sale of the same under more favorable conditions, she did not remain employed in the Basic Court in Cetinje for a minimum of five years," the lawsuit states.
The state demands that the disputed contract be terminated, and that Paović return the apartment and storage room.
Perović appealed to the High Court
The Basic Court of Podgorica ruled this summer that Jelena Perović is obliged to return 58.539,7 euros to the state, with late interest, because she sold an 87-square-meter apartment that she got on favorable terms, and did not fulfill her obligation and remained a judge for five years.
Attorney Perović, lawyer Nikola Martinovic he recently asked the Podgorica High Court to cancel that verdict, claiming that the reasons from the explanation of the verdict of the judge of the Podgorica Basic Court Mirza Ademović "vague and contradictory".
In his appeal, he repeated that "there was no breach of contract, because the notary record UZZ No. 05/218 of 11 January 1 is a pre-contract in its content, which cannot constitute rights and obligations - except for the obligation to later conclude the main contract".
The state initiated the dispute against the former director of the Agency after the initiative of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), at the end of November 2022.
MANS then appealed to the institution of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests to request compensation for damages on behalf of the state due to non-fulfillment of the contractual obligation when purchasing an apartment on favorable terms.
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