The Tivat Municipal Assembly session, where the only item on the agenda was the report of a special commission established by the local parliament in October last year with the task of analyzing the operations of the Arsenal Football Club from Tivat, was adjourned after a two-hour discussion.
The opposition requested a break after the Mayor Željko Komnenović (People Wins) and the Vice-President Jovan Brinić (Krtoljska Lista) left the hall. They had previously informed the councilors that due to an important meeting in the Government of Montenegro, which wants to annex the existing contracts with strategic foreign investors present in Tivat, which could potentially impose obligations on the Municipality measured in tens of millions of euros or deprive it of certain fees that investors should pay, they had to go to Podgorica.
Komnenović said that this meeting, with all due respect to the topic of Arsenal FC, is still much more important for the citizens of Tivat than the Commission's findings on the operations of the local football club over the last five years.
The opposition, especially Ilija Janović (HGI), called this Komnenović's alleged avoidance of an uncomfortable topic for him, and insisted that the Municipal Assembly continue the discussion on Arsenal exclusively in the presence of the mayor.
This was also supported by Vatroslav Belan and Igor Petković from the European Union.
The President of the Commission, councilor of Tivat Action Sanja Vuković, in her introductory speech pointed out that the Commission, which was composed exclusively of councilors of the ruling coalition, although it was allegedly exposed to media lynching and political pressure and limited access to Arsenal FC documentation, found "numerous systemic irregularities", lack of transparency and illegalities in the work and management of Arsenal FC.
She pointed out that "the Municipality of Tivat is the founder of Arsenal FC", which receives significant funds from the city budget, and that therefore "the Commission not only could, but also had to analyze the club's operations."
"This is not a political showdown, but rather an indication of the true state of affairs and not a target for anyone. Budget financing also entails the right to control what is financed from public funds. This is establishing transparency and accountability," she said.
Vuković strongly opposed the intention of part of the ruling coalition to submit the Commission's report to the Municipal Assembly session in the form of information, which would avoid a situation where councilors vote for or against the document at the end of the debate.
She insisted that a report had been made, not information, and that the vote on the document had political weight and was "to see where everyone stands on this and where we stand."
Mayor Komnenović, to whom the Commission in its report attributed most of the alleged responsibility for all the problems they believe exist in the operations of Arsenal FC, did not want to comment on the document in more detail.
"This report is exclusively political in nature. Fortunately and to the satisfaction of all of us, no major illegalities and corrupt practices were found, which the Commission had previously announced would certainly be found at Arsenal, but this has caused great damage to the club and called into question whether Porto Montenegro will continue to support it, as a sponsor, with 150.000 euros per year," he pointed out.
The mayor criticized the Commission for not, as he says, dealing at all with what happened in the Arsenal during the previous city DPS administration, which, according to him, was the root of some of the problems that manifested themselves later, and for which Komnenović has since taken about fifteen legal actions — from criminal charges to urging the police and prosecutor's office to act in some of those cases.
He pointed out that the external auditor, who reviewed Arsenal's books for the last five years, officially gave a "qualified opinion, which is neither negative nor positive" and that his findings differ significantly from those of the parliamentary commission.
He said that "Arsenal did not have good accounting" and that the club was a victim of its "obviously too rapid growth and success in the past five years, which probably could not be tracked well enough", but he denied any responsibility on his part or that of the Municipality for what was happening at that sports club.
He also said that "the Commission did not investigate the period at all, which is very important for determining whether the Municipality was the founder of the club or not", and accused that body of trying, at all costs, to target him personally in its actions and final findings, even though the Mayor has no legal authority or jurisdiction to manage sports clubs that, in accordance with applicable local regulations, compete for and receive funds from the city budget.
"The political head of Željko Komnenović, however, is very expensive for some who initiated and carried this out. I can't wait for the investigation into Arsenal, which was launched by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, to be completed, so that we can see who did what and how. These will not be the only legal processes that will result from this," said Komnenović.
After the half-hour break in the work of the Municipal Assembly, which was requested by the opposition, expired, its councilors did not return to the assembly hall.
The President of the Municipal Assembly, Miljan Marković, could therefore only state that there was no quorum to continue the session, so he adjourned the session and announced that he would later inform the public about the date of its continuation.
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