The President of the Budva Municipality Assembly, Nikola Jovanović, called on the Government of Montenegro to drop the lawsuit against the Municipality of Budva for the payment of 29,5 million euros.
"Vijesti" announced yesterday that the Kotor Rehabilitation Court ruled that the Municipality of Budva is obliged to pay the government the million sum that was paid at the end of 2019 in the name of the state guarantee to the German-Austrian concern WTE/EVN in the name of the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Bečići.
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"After the Austrian-German company WTE, contrary to contracts and agreements, unilaterally abandoned the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bečići, it submitted a falsified guarantee of 66 million to the Municipality of Budva and 29,5 million to the Government of Montenegro. We refused to pay. a corrupt deal in which the former director of the Faust company admitted and entered into a plea agreement for giving bribes in the amount of three million euros. The whole deal was designed and carried out in a criminally organized manner in order to pump 100 million from the budget of the citizens of Budva. After we refused to pay 66 million, the Government of Montenegro, led by DPS, decided to pay state guarantees that were issued outside the procedure in 2009. The then government led by Igor Lukšić did not have the decision of the Parliament of Montenegro to borrow 29,5 million and the same it is not foreseen in the budget. That is why the Government's decision is illegal and the guarantee is legally null and void," said Jovanović.
Despite numerous warnings from the Municipality, as he said, the Government made the payment.
"We rejected the ultimatums at the time that the Municipality of Budva should compensate the Government in the amount of 29,5 million because we warned that it was a legally void deal. Although the then Minister of Finance and the Protector of Property and Legal Interests accepted that it was a dubious deal and announced a review and criminal charges reports, they remained silent on this highly corrupt business. When we refused to compensate this amount, the DPS, through political corruption, administrative inspection, police and security companies, staged a coup and installed a new government in the Municipality of Budva. Then the Municipality's accounts were blocked to the amount of 29,5 million because the Government filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court and the acting judge Blažo Jovanić adopted a temporary measure prohibiting the Municipality from disposing of the account up to the amount of 29,5 million. The intention of the new government was to accept the agreement with the Government on debt and make a decision on credit debt in order to make the citizens indebted for this amount and transfer it to the Government's account. These were the real motives of the local coup d'état that we exposed and prevented, not agreeing to violence and protesting for 75 days every day," said Jovanović.
Unfortunately, as he adds, after the change of government, the Government led by Zdravko Krivokapić and the current one led by Dritan Abazović did nothing to review this most corrupt business in Montenegro because they did not have the political will to protect the interests of the citizens of Budva.
"Due to this harmful payment, two arbitration proceedings were initiated against the Municipality of Budva by WTE in Frankfurt and Geneva, worth 100 million, which have been completed and the decision is awaited. State institutions, in particular with SDT and VDT, have not done anything in this matter because it is about foreign companies and no one has the professional courage to prosecute criminals who come from EU member states. The first-instance judgment according to which the Municipality is obliged to compensate the amount to the Government of Montenegro, if it remains in legal force, literally means that this money goes directly into the pockets of Milo Đukanović and Svetozar Marović as the organizer of a criminal group," said Jovanović.
He said that the Government of Montenegro must urgently drop the lawsuit and initiate criminal proceedings because, at the request of the Municipality of Budva, they have been in the investigation phase for five years with the intention of never ending.
"Why is the Government of Dritan Abazović continuing the practice of the Government of Đukanović and Krivokapić is a question to which we await an answer. The first-instance verdict is based on a violation of the law and an erroneously established factual situation. It is indicative that it comes at a time when we expect the decisions of the arbitration courts because it represents a wind at the back of the international to the courts to pass judgment against the Municipality and to alienate 100 million from citizens. Further actions and inactions of the most important state officials, from the Government of Montenegro to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) will determine whether the citizens of Budva will pay more an enormous cry of the former regime. The municipality of Budva has done everything to protect the interests of citizens and in this legal battle, not only has it remained alone in international arbitrations, but it has serious obstruction from the competent state institutions, which with such judgments continue to help the company and individuals who carried out the most corrupt work in Montenegro and in an organized manner, through the combination of financial, political and criminal circles. That is why we demand that the Government finally start working in the interest of the citizens and give up the lawsuits on this basis and finally start criminal proceedings before the domestic courts in order to stop with international arbitrations, establish the truth and prosecute all individuals and groups who carried out this work harmful to state interests," Jovanović concluded.
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