Higher Court: Criminal prosecution has not run out of statute of limitations in the "Telekom" case

The High Court claims in a statement that the case known as "Telekom" has not been subject to relative statute of limitations.

They announced today that the criminal pre-trial chamber, deciding on the stated disagreement of the investigating judge with the Proposal for undertaking investigative actions - the injured party as the prosecutor of Montenegro, represented by the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, determined that the so-called relative statute of limitations for criminal prosecution for the criminal offenses that are the subject of the criminal report filed by the non-governmental organization Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) has not occurred.

The Special State Prosecutor's Office announced in the summer of last year that the MANS report had been dismissed due to the absolute statute of limitations for the criminal offenses for which former head of state Milo Đukanović, his sister Ana and several individuals were charged, during the privatization of the former Montenegrin telecommunications company.

The same position was announced in the fall by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office.

"This is because procedural actions were taken in the meantime to discover the perpetrator and the criminal offense, which interrupted the statute of limitations, and since after each interruption the statute of limitations begins to run again in accordance with Article 125 of the Criminal Code, in this specific case the so-called relative statute of limitations of criminal prosecution did not occur for the criminal offenses in question, as stated in the decision to dismiss the criminal complaint of the SDT, but also in the disagreement of the investigating judge," the Higher Court announced.

In relation to the criminal offense of accepting a bribe, the High Court states that the absolute statute of limitations will expire on May 15, 2036, and for the criminal offense of money laundering on May 15, 2026, or in three days.

"It follows from the case file that in the period from the time designated as the time of the commission of the criminal offenses, numerous procedural actions were taken that interrupted the statute of limitations (e.g., the hearing of witnesses in 2013 through international legal assistance, etc.), from which actions the statute of limitations begins to run again, within the meaning of Article 125 of the CPC, so in this specific case, the so-called relative statute of limitations of criminal prosecution did not occur in relation to the aforementioned criminal offenses, but rather it continues to run," the statement states.

They assessed that the so-called relative statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had not occurred in relation to other criminal offenses.

"...With regard to the criminal offense of abuse of official position under Article 416, paragraph 3, in conjunction with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, the so-called absolute statute of limitations within the meaning of Article 125, paragraph 7 of the Criminal Code occurred on March 31, 2025, while with regard to the criminal offense of bribery under Article 424, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, it occurred on May 15, 2016," the High Court said.

The Disciplinary Panel of the Prosecutorial Council has punished recently suspended prosecutor Saša Čađenović with a six-month salary reduction of 40 percent and a ban on promotion for the next two years. Čađenović, the decision said, was sanctioned for failing to act, among others, in the Telekom case, which led to the statute of limitations.