The "Telekom" case is back in the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).
This follows from the response of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (SPO) to questions from "Vijesti" regarding how that institution will respond to the position of the Supreme Court, which at the end of May rejected as inadmissible the prosecutors' request for protection of legality in the "Telekom" case.
After sending an emergency, from the institution he manages Milorad Marković They instructed the journalist to seek answers from special prosecutors.
"We have forwarded your questions to the Special State Prosecutor's Office," the Special State Prosecutor's Office responded.
However, the Special Prosecutor's Office has not responded to the editorial staff's urgent requests since last week, so it is not yet known whether they still hold the position that the "Telekom" case is time-barred and whether, after the decision of the Podgorica High and Supreme Courts, they plan to investigate whether bribery was a criminal offense during the privatization of this once successful state-owned company. They also do not answer the question of whether the investigation into the case related to the privatization of Telekom, which the prosecutor's office formed ex officio several years ago, was ever concluded and with what decision.
According to the two courts, this criminal offense does not expire until 2036. “Vijesti” did not receive an answer to the question of whether the investigation into the case related to the privatization of the once state-owned Telekom, which the prosecution formed ex officio, was ever concluded and with what decision, which was pointed out by the Criminal Pre-Trial Chamber of the Higher Court in its decision of May 12 this year. The former president is charged with this criminal offense, according to the report of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) from 2019. Milo Djukanovic, his sister Ana Đukanović, as well as former representatives of the company, HLT Fund, the company "Monte Adria" and Hungarian Telecom - Oleg Obradovic, Veselin Barovic, Damjan Hosta i Tomas Marvai.
MANS: There are no more excuses.
MANS yesterday called on the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office to "stop obstructing the process and finally announce to the public whether there is a willingness to bring this case to a court verdict."
"More than two decades after the corrupt privatization of Telekom and seventeen years after the United States (US) authorities established the existence of millions in bribes and corrupt commissions related to this deal, the citizens of Montenegro are still waiting for an answer to the question of whether anyone will be held criminally liable. We call on the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office to take all actions within its jurisdiction without further delay to enable the court to finally decide on the merits of this case, instead of wasting the energy of the institutions on attempts to stop the proceedings before they have even begun," MANS said in a statement to "Vijesti".
They emphasize that the Supreme Court's decision removed "one of the key obstacles to continuing the proceedings."
"And now there is no longer any excuse for the Telekom case to continue to be held in a legal vacuum," the NGO warned.
At the same time, MANS reiterated its request to the competent institutions to fully determine the responsibility within the prosecutorial organization for the manner in which the Telekom case was handled over the previous years.
"After a series of decisions that led to years of delays in the proceedings and seriously jeopardized the possibility of this case reaching a judicial conclusion, the public has the right to know whether there were any omissions, misjudgments, or other forms of responsibility in the actions of the prosecutors who were in charge of this case," they reiterated.
They assess that without establishing full responsibility, both for the possible criminal acts that are the subject of the proceedings, and for the actions of the institutions that were obliged to process them, the Telekom case will not represent an example of establishing justice.
"...Already a reminder of the long-standing weaknesses of the Montenegrin judiciary in the fight against high-level corruption," MANS concludes.
The “long journey” of objects
The criminal complaint against MANS had been pending for seven years by special prosecutors, but in the summer of last year they determined that the statute of limitations had expired. This was confirmed by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, acting on appeals from MANS and the state, in September 2025.
At the beginning of October last year, the government tasked the Ombudsman's office with undertaking criminal prosecution as a subsidiary prosecutor on behalf of the state, but the investigating judge rejected the proposal to conduct evidentiary proceedings - to hear the actors in the "Telekom" case, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code.
In October, Ombudsman Bojana Ćirović asked the investigating judge to, among other things, ask Milo Đukanović about his actions as Prime Minister during the preparation of the tender procedure for the sale of Telekom's share capital, the decision to accept the offer from Hungarian Telekom, the decision of the then Government to pay contributions to all minority shareholders, but also about the report of the commission of the then Privatization Council on the results of the tender... She suggested that judge Ana Đukanović ask about the existence of a contract with the company Sigma Inter Corp, USA, for the provision of consulting services, reports on the services provided...
In May, the Criminal Pre-Trial Chamber ordered the investigating judge to reconsider Ćirović's proposal and hear the parties involved in the privatization of the former Montenegrin Telecom, emphasizing that the absolute statute of limitations had not expired. Although the public expected that, after such a position, the prosecutors would rejoin the case, the VDP filed a request with the Supreme Court for protection of legality against the decision of the High Court. The Supreme Court rejected the request of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office.
"This is not a regular legal procedure"
The legal team of Milo and Ana Đukanović challenged the decision of the High Court panel in May.
They argued that "the explanation that the statute of limitations was interrupted by procedural actions taken in other proceedings, against other persons, is unacceptable."
They also claimed that "the state of Montenegro and its organs have not acted as injured parties for almost two decades - because they could not have been."
"The actions in question relate to the period after the privatization of 'Telekom', when the state was no longer the owner of the company. More importantly, Telekom itself has never claimed to have suffered any damage," the statement said.
They also say that this is not a regular legal procedure.
They stated that Milo and Ana Đukanović were not defendants in that proceeding.
"Procedural actions against certain persons cannot subsequently be used as a basis for extending the prosecution against other persons. We remind you that in the same case, two Montenegrin citizens were exposed to criminal proceedings, public pressure and media lynching for years, only to be finally acquitted. Instead of learning from that experience, the same mechanism is now being tried to be started again," said the legal team of Milo and Ana Đukanović.
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