The Kotor Basic Court annulled the settlement that was concluded almost six years ago between the state-owned company Morsko dobro and the private company "Navar INC" regarding the use of several state-owned plots of land on the sea foam in the Tivat settlement of Bonići.
Judge Andrijana Zečević Vukićević At the end of February, it ruled that the settlement was null and void and had no legal effect.
Annulment of the settlement, which was concluded in November 2020 in the courtroom of the former judge of the Kotor Basic Court Maria Bilafer, the state requested, claiming that "there could not have been a lawful regulation of mutual rights and obligations between the state and private companies with regard to the real estate in question, nor could 'Morsko dobro' have independently and without authorization disposed of those rights."
According to information from "Vijesti", a preliminary hearing should be held in May at the Commercial Court on the state's lawsuit against "Morski dobr" and the company "Navar". The state has asked the Commercial Court to annul the contract that the state-owned company concluded with a private individual more than two decades ago without the government's consent, allowing him to use and register as a user in the "B" list of real estate registers over more than 14.000 square meters on the sea foam in the Tivat settlement of Bonići.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office has been investigating the operations of the company "Navar" and Morski dobro since the beginning of 2021, and it was announced at the time that several former leaders of that state-owned company and employees of the Real Estate Administration were questioned on suspicion of abusing their official position, while the owner of the Tivat shipyard "Navar" Branko Zgradic suspected of having committed the criminal acts of abuse of official position through assistance for an extended period of time and abuse of position in business operations.
Special prosecutors suspect that Zgradić, in his company's business transactions with the company Morsko dobro, managed to register his company as the owner of real estate on the coast of Tivat, covering an area of approximately 14,5 thousand square meters, which is state property of Montenegro, in the period from 2009 to 2015. An order to conduct an investigation has been issued, and the case, according to information from "Vijesti", has not yet been concluded with any decision from the prosecutor's office.
Zgradić then claimed that he had never done anything illegal in connection with the thirty-year operation of his company in Bonići and that for everything that "Navar" did there and the facilities that the company had built in the meantime, it had proper permits and extensive documentation, as and that he never gave bribes to anyone in state bodies and institutions.
In 2024, the Special State Prosecutor's Office suspended the investigation against former judge Bilafer, who was previously accused of first rejecting the lawsuit of the Coastal State Administration, which requested the deletion of the incorrect registration of the right to use the local port "Bonići" of the company "Navar INC" of Branko Zgradić from Tivat, and then in November 2020, she invalidated that judgment and concluded a settlement between the parties to the proceedings.
Special prosecutor Nataša Bosković At that time, she assessed that there was no evidence that Bilafer had committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position.
The concession was never granted.
According to the Kotor court ruling, which Vijesti has access to, Judge Zečević Vukićević assessed that the settlement between the state-owned company and Navara should be annulled because the subject matter was "regulating rights and obligations related to the use of the maritime domain, which represents a public good in state ownership."
"...Which can be disposed of exclusively in the manner prescribed by law, which was not complied with in this particular case. The Court finds that the parties, through the settlement, attempted to regulate a legal relationship that could only be based on a valid concession, which did not exist at the time the settlement was concluded...", is the position of Zečević Vukićević.
The judgment recalls that the Government of Montenegro is responsible for granting concessions in the maritime domain zone, with the consent of the Parliament. It states that “in the specific case, it is not disputed that the real estate in question constitutes maritime domain in state ownership, nor that they are used as a shipyard, and that for their lawful use it is necessary to obtain a concession in accordance with the Law on Concessions and the Law on Ports”.
"...And that it is granted according to a pre-established procedure, which includes a public tender or exceptions clearly defined by law, whereby the concession cannot be considered granted until the decision has received the consent of the Assembly and has not entered into force...Also, it follows from the presented evidence that the concession award procedure has not been completed, because the decision to award the concession has not received the consent of the Assembly, and therefore has not entered into legal force, which means that the defendant of the second rank ('Navar INC') at the time of concluding the disputed court settlement did not have a legal basis for using the subject real estate in the capacity of a concessionaire", the verdict specified.
The judgment emphasized that "the court settlement in question does not merely regulate mutual obligations regarding compensation for the use of the maritime domain, as claimed by the defendants, but that it also essentially encroaches on issues of the use of state property and the regulation of rights to the maritime domain, which are strictly regulated by law and cannot be subject to the free disposal of the parties."
"The Court particularly appreciates the fact that the real estate in question is state-owned and represents goods in general use, which enjoy a special legal regime, and that only those rights that are provided for by law and in the procedure prescribed by law can be acquired on them. In this regard, the Court finds that the Public Company for the Management of the Maritime Domain of Montenegro could conclude contracts for the use of the maritime domain within its legal powers, but not regulate issues related to the granting of a concession and the real legal status of the real estate, for which it is not competent. The Court also considers that the fact that the defendant of the second rank was registered in the cadastral records as the holder of certain rights does not mean that those rights were legally acquired, nor that they could have been the subject of settlement to the extent to which they were regulated by the disputed settlement, taking into account the legal regime of the maritime domain," the judgment concluded.
State property as a founding contribution
In another case against “Morski dobr” and “Navar”, the state is requesting before the Commercial Court to annul the contract on the establishment of a limited liability company called “Navar Incorporated” with headquarters in Tivat, which the state and private companies concluded in May 2000.
The Protector of Property and Legal Interests claims in a lawsuit from 2024 that Morsko dobro was not authorized by law or a government decision to enter the right to use state-owned plots as a founding contribution when establishing the company 'Navar Incorporated'.
"Nor any other property right, pursuant to which legal transaction the second-ranking defendant is registered in the B list as a beneficiary in the cadastral records," the lawsuit emphasizes.
The lawsuit states that these are real estate properties that represent maritime property with facilities, as well as the coastal sea zone, which the state Maritime Property only manages, and does not dispose of.
"...Well, he could not transfer them, as a founding contribution and share in the company, to another founder, here the second defendant. All of the above is due to the fact that the owner of these real estates was not the first defendant, but the plaintiff - Montenegro, and the Government of Montenegro disposes of them, while Morsko dobro is only the entity that manages these real estates, but based on the decision and consent of the Government of Montenegro, which does not exist in this case," it was explained.
A preliminary hearing in that case is scheduled for May.
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