The Local Public Revenue Administration of the Municipality of Budva, acting ex officio, issued a decision to secure a tax claim, placing a mortgage on the property of the tax debtor, the company "Rekreaturs".
As stated in the decision that "Vijesti" had access to, the businessman's company Duško Knežević "Rekreaturs" did not pay real estate tax for last year in the amount of 146.314 euros with interest, which will be registered as a burden on three hectares of land in the hinterland of Kamenovo beach.
"Since the taxpayer did not act in accordance with the law, you have met the conditions for securing the tax claim through a pledge or mortgage pursuant to Article 60 of the Law on Tax Administration in conjunction with Article 309 of the Law on Property Relations, the registration of which will be carried out on real estate owned by "Rekreaturs". The encumbrance (mortgage) is recorded in favor of the Municipality of Budva. The mortgage begins immediately upon delivery of this decision and lasts until the tax debt is settled," the decision states.
And in July last year, the municipality was forced to block an attractive land complex near Sveti Stefan, placing a mortgage on it for a tax debt of 158 thousand euros, which the company had not paid for 2023.
This continued the series of blockades, which the Municipality has as its only option to collect the accumulated unpaid debt for property taxes from the company owned by Atlas Bank, which was declared bankrupt five and a half years ago.
The land complex where the Kosovo resort was once located, as stated in the cadastral records of the Real Estate Administration, is the property of the state of Montenegro, and the co-use is registered with "Rekreaturs DOO Budva", which owns the majority of the land, while a smaller part is owned by "Kožar SOUR trgovina" from Kosovo and the bankrupt Kosovska Bank.
The founder of the company "Rekreaturs Budva", as stated in the Central Registry, is Atlas Bank with 99,7 percent of the capital, and the remaining part is held by the company HTP "Atlas hotels group".
Knežević's company, reacting last year when the Municipality also registered a mortgage, blamed the bankruptcy administration for not paying taxes for years, warning them to settle their obligations to the Municipality of Budva by selling the bank's property. At the end of February, the Local Public Revenue Administration, acting in accordance with its official duty, initiated the procedure for the forced collection of the tax debt for 2022. In the amount of 145.117 euros, as well as interest for untimely settled obligations in the amount of 12.973 euros, a total of 158.100 euros.
Since “Rekreaturs” did not settle the obligation, the Administration issued a decision to register a mortgage.
And at the beginning of November 2023, the Local Public Revenue Administration registered two mortgages for a total of 175 thousand euros of tax debt in the amount of 77.870,51 euros and another in the total amount of 98.162,91 euros in favor of the Municipality of Budva.
This only continues the long-standing agony of the local government, which has practically no ability to collect a tax debt from the failing company, which will reach one million euros.
Bankruptcy was introduced in Atlas Bank on April 5, 2019. Total deposits with this bank when bankruptcy was introduced were 189 million euros, of which 50.000 million euros were protected in individual amounts of up to 89 thousand and guaranteed by the Deposit Protection Fund.
The land complex on Kamenovo is claimed by the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, which is trying to prove that the company "Rekreaturs" from Pristina is the actual owner of 33 square meters, and not the company of the same name, which is based in Budva and is controlled by Knežević.
On the other hand, the locals have already proved in court that part of Kamenovo is their property that was stolen from them. Disputes were won before the court and parts of the complex will have to be returned to the natives after almost half a century.
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