At the end of 2025, the National Security Agency (ANB) purchased several used vehicles for service needs from the Tivat-based company "Carogo Group", whose owner is Dejan Celanovic, according to information Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) from multiple unrelated sources, privately connected to the director of the ANB Ivica Janović.
The ANB did not answer CIN-CG whether the ANB director is related to Čelanović through family or godfather ties, nor whether the procurement department knew about these connections before concluding the contract and whether a possible conflict of interest was considered when purchasing the car.
Čelanović did not answer questions about his ties to Janović, nor did he answer other questions related to his work with the ANB.
CIN-CG has information about which vehicles were purchased from Čelanović, but because the vehicle specifications are classified, it will not be published in the text.
The deal, worth 62 thousand euros, was not concluded through a classic public tender, but through a negotiated procedure, which is an exception in public procurement. Such a model is allowed by the Public Procurement Law (the Law) only under special conditions, as it carries a greater risk of favoritism and abuse.
According to the Law, the negotiated procedure is carried out when there were no valid bids in the previous open or restricted procedure, when the procurement can only be carried out by a certain economic entity for technical reasons or due to the protection of exclusive rights, or when there is exceptional urgency that the contracting authority could not have foreseen and which was not caused by its actions.
The law also stipulates that the contracting authority must determine the subject and method of negotiation, keep minutes of negotiations, and that negotiations cannot reduce minimum requirements, change mandatory conditions, or increase the estimated value of the procurement.
According to data from the AutoDiler portal, one of the largest in Montenegro for buying and selling vehicles, 116 car dealerships from Montenegro are registered on that platform. Data from the Business Directory show that there are around 200 companies in the country whose registered activity is the trade in cars and light motor vehicles, which includes the sale of both new and used vehicles.
The company “Carogo Group” was founded relatively recently, on January 17, 2024, and is registered for the rental and leasing of cars and light motor vehicles, and its 100% owner and CEO is Čelanović. According to data from the “Business Network” platform, the company was briefly blocked in March 2025 due to forced collection, in the amount of 1.095,59 euros, has a credit rating of C1, operates on average, and has, according to the assessment of “Business Network”, an increased probability of failure in the future.
The deal with "Carogo Group" is just one of 113 public procurement contracts that the ANB, according to available data, concluded from 2021 to the end of 2025, with a total value of around 2,14 million euros. This is shown by data from the "My Money" platform of the Institute Alternative (IA).
CIN-CG's analysis shows that the ANB concluded the largest number of deals through simple procurements, or lower-value procedures, which are conducted according to a simplified procedure and with a lower degree of formality than higher-value tenders.
Of the 113 contracts, 66 were concluded through simple procurement, and 45 through open procedures, which represent the most transparent model of public procurement, as all interested bidders who meet the requirements can apply.
Open procedures dominate in terms of value. Around 1,42 million euros were contracted through them, while simple procurements were worth around 542 thousand euros.
From 2021 to 2025, two negotiation procedures concluded by the ANB, worth around 175 thousand euros, can be found in the electronic public procurement system (CeJN). One related to a fuel procurement contract with "Jugopetrol" from 2022, in the amount of slightly less than 115 thousand euros, and the other to a job with the company "Carogo Group".
The procurement was preceded by three different tenders.
"The law clearly defines under what circumstances a negotiated procedure can be carried out without prior publication of a call, including if no bids were received through an open procedure or no valid bids were submitted; when only a certain economic entity can carry out a procurement due to the lack of competition for technical reasons or when it concerns a specific object, a work of art; or in cases of extreme urgency," he tells CIN-CG. Dragana Jaćimović, program coordinator at the Alternative Institute, who has been monitoring public procurement in Montenegrin institutions for years.
Jaćimović emphasizes that it is necessary to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Finance before initiating such procedures, in order to avoid abuse of this mechanism.
In a response to CIN-CG, the ANB claimed that they had permission from the Ministry of Finance and the Government of Montenegro for the negotiation process with "Carogo Group", in accordance with the law, and that this type of procurement was carried out only after three open procedures, in May and November 2024, and July 2025, which, as they state, were "cancelled because no offers from interested bidders were submitted."
"The goal we wanted to achieve was to ensure efficient, legal and economical implementation of the procurement, primarily to rationalize the costs of maintaining the vehicle fleet, because any further delay in the sale of old vehicles would only increase costs, and on the other hand, result in a decrease in their real value," the ANB stated in a response to CIN-CG.
The Ministry of Finance told CIN-CG that they gave a positive opinion for the implementation of this negotiation procedure, but that this opinion was "given without conducting an investigation, based on the evidence and allegations submitted by the applicant," which in this case is the ANB, which, as they state, was obliged to conduct the procedure in accordance with the law.
The Public Procurement Law states that the subject of the procurement and the content of the tender documentation in the case of a negotiated procedure must not be "substantially changed" compared to an open procedure that was previously unsuccessful.
However, the tender documentation shows that these were not exactly the same procedures.
The first tender, announced in May 2024, related to the "procurement of motor vehicles using the old-for-new method", that is, the purchase of two new motor vehicles. The estimated value of that procedure was 70.000 euros, while the scrapped vehicles, according to the expert's findings from February 2024, were estimated at 49,500 euros, so the ANB planned to pay an additional fee of up to 20.500 euros excluding VAT.
The second procedure, from November 2024, had the same name, but the ANB then requested nine new motor vehicles, with a total estimated value of 212.840 euros. The value of the scrapped vehicles was estimated at 47.800 euros, so the planned additional payment amounted to up to 165.040 euros excluding VAT.
The third open procedure, announced in 2025, was again set up differently: the ANB no longer required new vehicles, but used ones, up to five pieces, with a surcharge of up to 37.900 euros, while the value of scrapped vehicles was estimated at 24.100 euros. In this procedure, bidders were additionally required to submit, along with their bids, an expert's report and opinion on the value of the vehicles they were offering, no older than 30 days from the date of opening the bids.
In addition to the number of vehicles and whether new or used vehicles were required in open procedures, the conditions under which bidders could apply also changed. Also interesting are the specifications in these unsuccessful procurements, which were very detailed and extensive, and were changed from tender to tender.
As can be seen from the documentation, in all three tenders, the ANB requested that bids be submitted for the entire job, not for individual vehicles. This means that someone who could, for example, offer one or two vehicles could not apply, but only a bidder who could cover the entire procurement.
The bids were evaluated mostly by price, but the delivery time also brought a significant number of points. In other words, the advantage was given to the one who could deliver the vehicles the fastest. In the first tender, the deadline could be up to 90 days, while it was later shortened to 30 days, and the most points were given to the one who could deliver the vehicles in just one day, which could be more suitable for companies that already had vehicles ready, and less so for those that would still have to provide them.
In the new procurement law, secrets
"It should also be noted that with the adoption of the new Law on the ANB, which we strongly opposed, the ANB was completely exempted from the application of legislation in the field of public procurement, and that these procedures are envisaged to be carried out according to the internal procedure of the Agency's director," Jaćimović points out.
The new Law on the National Security Agency stipulates that public procurement regulations do not apply to procurement at all, but that the manner and procedure for implementing procurements is regulated by an internal act of the Director of the National Security Agency.
Article 83 stipulates that “public procurement regulations shall not apply to the implementation of procurements in the Agency”, thus completely exempting the ANB from the system applicable to other state institutions. The same article stipulates that “no taxes shall be paid for the procurement, maintenance and servicing of special equipment, weapons and official premises”, and that “regulations on calculation, payment and reporting of tax authorities shall not apply”, while the manner of conducting all procurements is left to the ANB Director, who shall regulate them by internal act.
In May 2026, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) challenged five articles of the new ANB Law, including Article 83, stating that "the exclusion of ANB from the public procurement system creates a high risk of non-transparent spending of public funds, as key control mechanisms such as competition among bidders, the transparency of the procedure, and the possibility of reviewing decisions are removed."
"This significantly increases the scope for favoring certain suppliers, rigging contracts and overpaying for goods and services. An additional risk arises from the fact that the Director of the ANB independently regulates the manner and procedure for implementing procurement, which leads to the concentration of decision-making without external control and standardized procedures," according to the ASK opinion.
It further states that "the absence of tax and reporting obligations further reduces the transparency of financial flows, thereby making it more difficult to monitor the legality and justification of spending funds", and that "all of the above represents a significant deviation from the principles of public procurement that international standards recognize as a key instrument for preventing corruption in the public sector".
The Ministry of Finance, in its Opinion from July 2025, did not give a positive opinion, among other things, on Article 83 of the new law, the part that refers to the exemption from taxation of the procurement, maintenance and servicing of special equipment, weapons and official premises, stating that such a solution is "essentially inconsistent with the applicable laws governing the tax system".
Despite the outcry of numerous members of the opposition and non-governmental organizations, the Law on the National Security Agency was adopted in March 2026, without changes to the articles related to public procurement, but with several other controversial articles.
The Alternative Institute warned on this occasion that "the proposed changes represent a setback in relation to the current legislation, since even procurements that do not have a security nature, such as office supplies, mobile telephony services, and vehicle procurement, will be carried out according to procedures prescribed by the Director of the National Security Agency."
"Excluding all procurements from the current legislation that prescribes reporting obligations on implemented procurements may lead to a complete absence of external oversight of procurements conducted by the ANB," the IA said at the time.
The agreement between the government and the opposition ahead of the vote on constitutional changes due to EU demands, foresees a revision of the ANB Law, especially for articles related to oversight. It remains to be seen whether there will also be changes to items related to public procurement.
Most contracts and money in 2025
According to available data, the most contracts were concluded in 2025, 29 of them, worth around 555.000 euros. A year earlier, the ANB had 20 contracts, worth around 425.000 euros. In 2023, 21 contracts were concluded, worth around 459.000 euros, while in 2022 there were 21 contracts, worth a total of around 402.000 euros. In 2021, 22 contracts were recorded, worth around 301.000 euros.
This means that 2025 was the most intense year in terms of both the number of contracts and the total value of procurement. That year, ANB, according to available data, concluded more deals than in any previous year in the analyzed period.
The procurement structure shows that services are more numerous, but goods are more significant in value. Of the 113 contracts from 2021 to the end of 2025, 60 were for services, with a total value of around 796.000, while 53 contracts were for goods worth around 1,35 million euros.
This ratio shows that the largest amounts were mostly spent on the purchase of fuel, equipment, vehicles, office supplies and other goods.
The largest supplier to ANB in the analyzed period was "Jugopetrol", followed by "Crnogorski Telekom", "Sava osiguranje", "Voli Trade"...
Data shows that some suppliers repeat themselves year after year.
Procurement through negotiated procedures is on the rise
The annual report on public procurement for 2025 shows that the share of the value of procurements conducted through a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call is almost 11 percent, and that this is the largest share in the total value in the last three years, says Dragana Jaćimović.
She explains that the State Audit Institution (SAI) has disputed in previous audits that certain contracting authorities insufficiently justify the reasons for urgency when applying this procedure, or that they cite reasons for urgency that the contracting authority could have prevented. An example is the audit of the final budget of the Municipality of Kotor for 2024.
The Public Procurement Law prescribes seven different procedures that can be used by state bodies and other public institutions, but in practice, the majority of procurement is conducted through open procedures and simple procurements.
Open procedure implies public announcement of the call and allows all interested economic operators to submit a bid, which is why it is considered the most transparent form of public procurement. Simple procurement is applied for contracts of lower value according to simplified rules, while for procurements up to 8.000 euros, direct contracting is also possible without conducting the procedure through the electronic public procurement system (CeJN).
For years, the Alternative Institute has been warning about this very segment of the system as one of the least transparent, stating that direct contracting allows contracting authorities to conclude a deal with a bidder of their own choice, without competition.
According to the Annual Report on Public Procurement for 2024 of the Ministry of Finance, 8,373 public procurement contracts were concluded in Montenegro, with a total value of 982,06 million euros, which represents about 13,1 percent of the gross domestic product. Of this, 766,5 million euros related to classic public procurement, 193,7 million to procurement in sectoral activities, while about 21,8 million euros were allocated for procurement in the field of defense and security.
The system also recorded 5.103 simple procurements worth 55,8 million euros, while as many as 164.183 direct procurements were carried out via invoice, pro forma invoice or contract for procurements up to 8.000 euros, making them by far the most common form of public spending in terms of the number of procedures carried out.
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