Leader of the "Movement for the City" and councilor of that group of citizens in the Budva parliament Đorđe Zenović filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) against the bankruptcy judge, bankruptcy administrator and the board of creditors of the bankruptcy debtor "Vektra Montenegro", the appraiser of the market value of real estate, as well as other unidentified persons for the sale of the dilapidated building of the former Yugoslav River Shipping Company (JRB) near the Old Town to the Municipality of Budva for 7,1 million euros, which caused direct damage to the city budget in the amount of several million.
This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by Zenović, who is also employed in the Secretariat for Property Protection of the Municipality of Budva.
As a reminder, the Municipality of Budva purchased only the 815 square meter JRB building for 7,1 million euros, but not the 5.454 square meter land surrounding the building.
"There is a basis for suspicion that the criminal offense of abuse of official position was committed in conjunction with the criminal offense of forging an official document, the criminal offense of inducing the certification of false content, the criminal offense of negligent work in the service, the criminal offense of fraud in the service with elements of organization," it says in the criminal report, which "Vijesti" had access to.
In his explanation, Zenović states that in August 2025, the bankruptcy administration of "Vektra Montenegro" announced the sale of part of its property in Budva, including residential buildings, apartments and business premises, at a starting price of 6.902.789,20 euros.
“This is the building of the former 'Yugoslav River Shipping'. The Municipality of Budva participated in the procedure and submitted a written offer for the purchase of the real estate that was offered for sale, based on the Decision on granting authorization to the President of the Municipality, which was adopted at the session of the Budva Municipal Assembly held on August 25, 2025, offering the lowest, starting price. After that, and according to information that was available to us through media reports, the aforementioned advertisement was canceled. In the further procedure for the sale of the property, the Bankruptcy Administration, namely the Board of Creditors of the Bankruptcy Debtor, accepted the request of the Municipality of Budva for the sale of the aforementioned property by direct negotiation. The Bankruptcy Administration sent an offer to the Municipality of Budva for the conclusion of a Contract for the purchase of real estate owned by the bankruptcy debtor “Vektra Montenegro” by direct negotiation for the amount of 7.152.789,20 euros. The Municipality of Budva agrees with such an offer and the Budva Municipal Assembly, at its session held on December 31, 2025, adopts a new Decision on granting authorization to the Mayor, thereby giving consent to the Mayor to conclude a contract for the purchase of the subject real estate for the amount of 7.152.789,20 euros," said Zenović.
Deviation from the methodology
As he added, the Municipality paid the determined amount and made the entry in the cadastre of the Real Estate Administration.
"I express my suspicion that during the assessment of the specific property, there was a significant deviation from the rules and methodology for calculating market value, as well as other positive regulations, which created direct damage to the budget of the Municipality of Budva in the amount of several million. Namely, the area of the buildings in question is 815 square meters. When the total square footage of the buildings is derived from the offered and realized purchase price of the specific property of 7.152.789,20 euros, the amount is 8.776,50 euros per square meter of the building. It is important to emphasize the key characteristics and condition of the building that was the subject of the sale, namely that it is a building that was built 90 years ago, and that it was, I assume, reconstructed after the earthquake in 1979, and that since then no additional reconstruction or other investments have been made on it. Just by looking at the site, it is easy to conclude that the building is in very poor condition, dilapidated and practically unusable. For several decades, no business or other activity has been carried out in it in accordance with purpose", stressed Zenović.
As he added, the site itself is included in the Special Purpose Spatial Plan for the Coastal Area, but no construction or expansion of capacity is allowed at the specific location, which additionally directly affects the market value of the specific facility.
"A necessary prerequisite for planning construction at that location is the adoption of the State Location Study, which has not been adopted for years. Furthermore, as an example of a significant deviation from the market price estimate prepared by an anonymous appraiser, which was approved without objection by the bankruptcy judge, the bankruptcy administration and the creditors' committee, I will also cite official data, namely the amount of the average market price prepared by the Statistical Office, for the purposes of determining the average price per square meter of a new construction building for 2025," Zenović pointed out.
Namely, as he added, with the Decision on the average market price per square meter of a building for 2025, the Local Public Revenue Administration of the Municipality of Budva determined the average market price of buildings per square meter in the territory of the Municipality of Budva for 2024 (which will also be applied for tax calculation for 2025).
"The average market price in the amount of 2.212,80 euros for residential premises; 2.581,60 euros for commercial premises, residential-commercial premises and business premises; 1.290,80 euros for auxiliary facilities, non-residential premises, garages, garage spaces, basements and other facilities (roof terraces, attics, technical rooms); 1.475,20 euros for facilities under construction; 1.475,29 euros for immovable temporary facilities. The explanation states that in the procedure for determining the market price of real estate (construction facility) in accordance with Article 6, 6b of the Law on Real Estate Tax, which stipulates that the average market price per square meter of a construction facility is determined for a residential facility based on data on the average market price per square meter of a newly built residential facility in Montenegro, published by the Statistical Office of Montenegro, Monstat, for the year preceding the year for which the tax is determined, the Local Public Revenues Administration, on 26 March 2025, data submitted by the Statistical Office dated 31. 03. 2025, that the average price per square meter of residential area in new buildings for 2024 is 1.844,00 euros. By multiplying this price with corrective coefficients, and in accordance with the Law on Real Estate Tax and the Decision on Real Estate Tax, the average market price of a building per square meter was obtained, which is used to calculate real estate tax," Zenović emphasized.
Comparison of market values
Zenović emphasized that, based on a request for free access to information, he tried to obtain a Decision on determining real estate tax for buildings and land registered in the Real Estate List 343 of the Budva Municipal Administrative District (JRB building), but the Local Public Revenue Administration of the Budva Municipality rejected the request as prohibited.
"This information is certainly crucial for comparing the market values of a specific property, and I expect that the competent prosecutor's office will obtain it in the survey procedure. If the corrected market value according to the Decision on the average market price per square meter of a construction facility for 2025 were accepted, i.e. the highest price of 2.581,60 euros for a business facility, residential-business facility and business premises, without any reduction due to the age of the facility and its non-functionality, by multiplying it by the square footage of the property in question of 815 square meters, we would arrive at an amount of 2.104.004,00 euros. Therefore, if we take into account that this amount is the basis for determining the real estate tax for a specific property, we arrive at a value that is more than three and a half times lower than that determined by the Bankruptcy Administration, which certainly raises serious doubts about the method and methodology of the assessment performed and the reasons for the Bankruptcy Administration to accept it and not object to it," concluded Zenović.
Multi-million dollar damage to the Municipality
Zenović points to the fact that the Municipality of Budva, as the buyer, was damaged in the amount of several million.
"I propose that the competent prosecutor's office, through an independent and objective expert assessment by experts in geodesy, construction and financial and economic fields, arrive at the real and objective value of the specific real estate and, based on it, determine the amount of damage to the Municipality of Budva, and the amount of unlawful material gain obtained by a third party in the same amount. Finally, no less important, I emphasize the fact that "Vektra Montenegro" in bankruptcy has already once, in 2022, advertised the sale of real estate for the amount of 7.970.000 euros. However, the subject of the sale at that time, in addition to the JRB building in question with an area of 815 square meters, was also the land of 5.454 m2 surrounding the JRB building. At that time, the Protector of Property and Legal Interests claimed that the said land was registered in the real estate register as the property of the state of Montenegro and could not be part of the bankruptcy estate of "Vektra Montenegro" doo in bankruptcy, and ultimately the further sale procedure was suspended. What is significant for this application is the fact that at that time, or in 2022, the assessment of the land of 5.454 m2 together with the buildings of 815 square meters amounted to 7.970.000 euros, while in 2025 the assessment of the building alone (the JRB building) amounted to 7.152.789,20 euros. Simple logic leads to the conclusion that the land alone is worth something around 800.000 euros, or around 150 euros per square meter, noting that no construction is planned on it. On the other hand, the value of the ruined and unusable JRB building, of 815 m2, on which construction or capacity expansion is also not allowed, amounts to 8.776,50 euros per square meter of the building," Zenović pointed out.
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