The legal battle of a famous Montenegrin football player, now a sports worker and tourism businessman, from Budva, has been going on for 23 years. Igor Gluščević to register the former entertainment terrace on Slovenska plaža itself, which he bought from the then HTP "Budvanska rivijera" for 880 thousand marks that he earned playing in European clubs, as his property.
HTP "Budvanska rivijera", a joint-stock company in mixed ownership, sold many of its hotels at a public auction at the beginning of this century, from "Avala" for three million marks, to "Maestral" in Pržno, "Asa" in Perazića dol, Bečići hotels "Splendid", "Belvi", "Montenegro", but also restaurants, some of which for a much smaller amount than Gluščević bought. Unlike him, all of them managed to register the real estate as property.
“Playing professional football all over Europe, I earned a decent amount of money. My wish was to invest some of it in a project in my hometown of Budva and build a luxurious facility like many in Europe... In 2002, I saw in the media a Public Call by the Commission for Public Auction of the Privatization Council for participation in a public auction at which part of the assets of the HTP “Budvanska rivijera” company (five facilities) would be sold. Among them was the “Zabavna terasa” facility on Slovenska plaža. The public auction was held on October 17, 2002, in the Government building, based on Article 12 of the Regulation on the Sale of Shares and Property of Companies by Public Auction. Since I wanted to buy exclusively property, and that was what the Public Call said, and since at that time land was everywhere treated as “social property” with a user who managed that land, I consulted a lawyer. He drew my attention to the fact that it was a matter of use, but that in practice it was treated as property. Since the Public Call treats property "HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD, in the data room of the Commission of the Privatization Council, I familiarized myself with the supporting documentation-data for the real estate in question," says Gluščević.
He said that at that time, the Real Estate List No. 355 of the Budva Municipal Administrative District was displayed, in which for the interested cadastral plot No. 2913, in the section "Information on the owner or right holder" it was written "property" in the scope of the right 1/1, owned by HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD.
"I found it strange how property, when everywhere is social property with the right of use. Even today, many people have such a legal status of land registered, for example, the Igalo Institute. On the same issue, the legal department of "Budvanska rivijera" AD explained to me that the company was transformed from a social enterprise into a joint-stock company in 1991, and later into a joint-stock company," he emphasized.
According to him, in this process, by identifying the so-called unidentified social capital, the assessed land was identified as state-owned.
"The then government decided not to retain ownership of the land, but to transfer it to HTP "Budvanska rivijera" as share capital, which meant that the land lost its state status and its owner became HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD, and the state therefore became the owner of 41,64 percent of the shares in the company. Given that I was only interested in the property, I decided to participate in the auction. There was another interested participant for the facility. My bid was ranked first. The price achieved, based on which I concluded the purchase and sale agreement on October 29, 2002, was 426.360 euros, which is more than a quarter of the price of many of the company's privatized hotels at the time. I paid the stated amount within the given deadline," said Gluščević.
However, as he points out, from that year 2002 until today, his fight to register ownership rights to the purchased land has been ongoing.
"I have been registered in the cadastre three times as an owner with a 1/1 right, and the protector of property and legal interests of Kotor has contested my registrations as many times, mainly on the grounds that it is state property, although, as I stated, I did not buy the land from the state, but from the legal owner, HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD. The protector's explanation is mainly that it is land in the coastal zone, that is, state land. It should be noted that today HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD is the only registered owner of the land, both outside the zone and in the coastal zone. Even these days, the company is calling on JP Morsko dobro to transfer to it the management of the beaches that, as they themselves say in the media, "are owned by HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD for more than half of the coastal zone." And it is true, because this company is registered everywhere as the sole owner of the land," Glušćević says.
Also, as he adds, all entities that purchased facilities and land from HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD in the privatization process, and most of them in the coastal zone, such as the "Avala" hotel, Bečići hotels, the "Maestral" hotel, the "Rivijera" and "Monte Kasa" hotels (formerly "4. jul"), many restaurants, the owners of the purchased facilities are also registered as owners of the corresponding land.
"To make it even more interesting, all four remaining buildings from the public auction in 2002, including my building, the "Brežine" restaurant, the "Sutjeska" villa, the "Adriatik" cafe and the "Golubinj" restaurant, are registered as owners of the land. The property of the HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD in the coastal zone, which borders my building and is in the same line with mine and is located below the promenade, also has the corresponding land registered as property. In short, all the land that belonged to the socially-owned enterprise "Budvanska rivijera" in 1991 when it was privatized is now registered as property of either HTP "Budvanska rivijera" AD or buyers in the privatization process, both outside the coastal zone and in the coastal zone. Only the land I purchased is treated as state-owned," emphasizes Gluščević.
He believes that the protector of property and legal interests from Kotor did not get involved in the issue and that he wrote complaints by default.
"I believe that the main protector of the property and legal interests of Montenegro will still be involved in resolving this case." Bojana Cirovic", in which I place my hope, as well as the Privatization Council, from which I have not yet sought an opinion, and that they will resolve the case in accordance with the law," Gluščević concluded.
Instead of a luxurious facility, noisy discos
Precisely because of the whole situation, as Gluščević points out, even after 23 years the facility cannot be renovated and built into a luxury facility that would complement the tourist offer of Budva and Montenegro.
"On the contrary, I am forced to rent it out and the tenants mainly use it as improvised discos, in the condition it looked like in 1984 when it was built and which often endanger the quality of Budva's offer due to noise. Lawyers advised me to, in accordance with point 4 of Article 419 of the Law on Property and Legal Relations, request the Privatization and Capital Projects Council to issue me an appropriate opinion that the market price was paid for the purchased facility in the privatization process. Since there was a Public Advertisement, and there were several participants at the auction, I believe that it is indisputable that the market price was paid and that the Council will issue me such an opinion, which will complete the request for registration of ownership rights to the land in question. That would finally dispel my feeling that I was deceived and cheated by the state," said Gluščević.
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