The criminal group led by Črtomir Mesaric and Nebojš Bošković damaged the state for more than 20 million euros in the case of Primorka, and the illegal guarantee for granting state aid to a suspicious private individual was signed by the then Deputy Prime Minister.
This was stated in the Order for conducting the investigation of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, which first suspected 15 people of having directly damaged the budget by more than four million euros, as well as of illegally acquiring state property worth about 15.000.000 euros.
In the end, an indictment was brought against "only" six persons and one legal entity, and the resulting damage "melted away" - Mesarič, Bošković, Svetozar Marković, Biljana Bošković, Milenko Marković, Vinko Marović and NLB Bank, accused of defrauding the state coffers damaged for 6.651.611 euros in favor of that financial institution.
The trial is ongoing in the Podgorica High Court, but almost since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, no main trial has been held.
The defendants are accused of forming a criminal group at the beginning of 2009, and the indictment charges them with the criminal offense of abuse of power in the economy.
Lukšić was authorized to sign guarantees
According to the decision of the Government, Igor Lukšić is authorized to sign the state guarantee.
Lukšić was Deputy Prime Minister for International Economic Cooperation, Structural Reforms and Improvement of the Business Environment and Minister of Finance. The Ministry of Finance formally submitted proposals on state aid to the Government for adoption.
In the prosecution document, however, it is explained that the vice-president of the executive branch signed the guarantee based on the conclusion of the government at the time, adopted based on the illegal decision of the Commission for the allocation of state aid.
Milo Đukanović was the prime minister at the time.
The SDT stated that the proposal presented to Lukšić at the Government was prepared by his former adviser, then head of cabinet Predrag Stamatović and the president and members of the Commission Mitar Bajčeta, Refik Bojadžić, Darko Konjević, Irena Mijanović and Vukica Perović.
Except for Lukšić, all of them were suspected of abuse of official position...
According to the Prosecutor's Order, Stamatović and Bušković took actions on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, which were not in the interest of their official duties.
It is clarified that Sonja Bećirović, as an adviser to the Minister of Finance, gave instructions to the officials of the Department for the Preparation of State Aid on how to prepare an opinion that would approve the aid, even though there are no conditions for that...
It is added that Šefik Kurtagić, on behalf of that department, prepared documentation to grant state aid to Bošković's companies Krisma Motors, Krisma Trade and Melgonia Prmorka...
Guaranteed by government land
The order states that Bošković, a private citizen, received money from NLB Bank through Mesarich for the alleged revival of the company Primorka and the payment of severance pay to workers who lose their jobs, but he used the money to pay back the loans of his over-indebted companies from which the bank could not be paid.
It is explained that they falsely presented and concealed the state and results of Primorka's business, in order to receive state aid, in which state officials also helped them.
"To purchase the assets of Primorka under favorable conditions through the company owned by Bošković, in a programmed bankruptcy, which was financed by NLB Montenegrobanka by approving a loan... In order to make a business plan, in which the state and results of operations of (Bošković's) company and by showing that the loans will be used for the revival of production in Primorka and the payment of obligations to workers who lose their jobs, state aid from the Government that was not used for the purpose for which it was given, but for the repayment of loans to Krisma motors, Krisma trade...", it says in the SDT order.
The prosecutors allege that NLB Bank approved the loan to the companies for the purchase of the bankrupt Primorka real estate, equipment facilities and 66.000 square meters of land...
It says, however, that it all belongs to the state of Montenegro and that it was registered without legal basis as the property of Primorka and was used as a guarantee for obtaining a loan and for the return of poorly secured loans previously given to Krismi Motors and Krismi Trade: "The return of which the bank constantly prolonged, because due to the over-indebtedness of these companies, she could not collect them"...
The order states that on June 2, 2014, the company Melgonia Primorka was declared bankrupt, after which a mortgage was realized on the property of the former Primorka, which was registered as a loan security...
"Thus, the criminal plan was realized and to the detriment of the state of Montenegro, NLB Montenegrobanka became the owner of 66.000 square meters of land, equipment and facilities of the former Primorka Bar in the value of 15.000.000 euros, at the expense of the budget of Montenegro, Krisma Group and NLB Montenegrobanka acquired property benefit in the amount of at least 4.000.000", the text from the prosecution states.
Bošković: I am damaged
Bošković claimed during the trial that he was not guilty, that is, he said that he was the only one who lost in the case of Primorko - 1.600.000 euros.
"The expert opinion of the economic and financial profession was deliberate and tendentious, by order of the Special Prosecutor's Office. The expert dealt with law, not economics. Out of the 14,4 million euros received in loans for starting the production of 'Primorka', only 223.000 were 'laid' on the account euros. The findings of the expert are not accurate, nor are the indictments. The money from the loan came to the bank account and from there it was further directed according to the order of the Government of Montenegro, without our orders," said Bošković, former owner and co-owner of the company "Krisma Motors" of the company "Krisma Trade".
He also said that it is not true that the loans were taken in order for "Krisma Motors" to pay back the loans, because before that the company bought about 60 percent of Primorka's shares.
"We agreed with the banks on a project for the recovery of Primorka of 24 million euros, but with the arrival of Mr. Ribnikar, all business projects were stopped and the accounts were blocked. The financial aspect of the business plan for Primorka was 24 million euros. 14,4 million euros were approved, and on the account received 223.000 euros. From that loan, the bank paid all creditors, every shareholder was paid... We could not pay a single euro to anyone without the approval of the bank and the Government. We were supposed to buy Primorka for about five million euros from Duško Knežević, but later that price jumped to 10,7 million euros. Duško Knežević and his team hid debts and creditors. The state stood behind the entire project, which was checked by the Government and NLB banks in Podgorica and Ljubljana. Basic state The prosecutor's office in Bar investigated the case for four years and made a decision to suspend the criminal proceedings, because we were working according to the law."
Mesarič: If the Government had not stood behind the project...
Commenting then on the indictment, according to which he approved a loan to the company "Krisma Trade" for the purchase of "Primorka" Bar from Bar and organized a criminal group that damaged the budget of Montenegro for almost seven million euros, Mesarič said that the guarantees for the loans were approved by the Montenegrin Government and that his bank wouldn't approve the loan if she hadn't stood behind the project...
"I am not guilty. I cannot believe that I have been accused after my honest work for 40 years. I have never been accused. It was presented in the indictment that the state was damaged, for the work that the state led, and that was approved by the Government of Montenegro. There is no criminal organization The government gave guarantees for the amount of 14,4 million euros of loans. Everything was approved in Ljubljana NLB, without my signature and participation. NLB would not even have entered into this business without the guarantee of the Government of Montenegro. I don't know how 'Krizma' paid back loans. Without the activities of the Ministry of Finance and the Government, this loan would not exist. Such an indictment against me is unjustified, it has damaged my integrity and health. I expect the court to reject this indictment. My conscience is clear. I have never been a criminal. This is all for me fell hard," said Mesarič at the time.
He added that he wrote twice to the then Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, regarding the "Primorka" project, but that there is nothing in the documentation because he retired on July 1, 2011.
Milo knew about everything
The President of the Board of Directors of Melgonia Primorka, Svetozar Marković, sent information to the Ministry of Finance on November 19, 2009, in which he stated that state aid in the form of a guarantee is only the first stage of cooperation with the Government, and that the second should be a public-private partnership agreement. For this, as he states, based on a written initiative, he received the verbal consent of the then Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and the then Minister of Finance Igor Lukšić.
In 2017, former MP Mladen Bojanić showed this information in the show Reflektor of Television Vijesti - in it, it was stated that the restructuring program of Primorka, for which a guarantee was given, foresees that "the project will be protected from the possible negative impact of the history of Krisma by at a certain moment, a new company outside the system of legally connected persons of the Krisma system can be formed".
The owner of Krisma is Nebojša Bošković, whose two companies in the Krisma group were in bankruptcy at that time. Marković thereby informs the Ministry of Finance that he will avoid connecting with companies that were previously destroyed by the same owner.
The information also stated that the meeting was held on November 18 with the Assistant Minister of Finance for the Treasury, Boris Bušković, with the presence of representatives of NLB Bank and the Krisma group of companies.
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