Cultural and artistic events in Budva are non-transparently financed even after the removal of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), because the same people dominate culture for more than two decades.
Budva businessman Marko Kentera and his related persons are still involved in many affairs of municipal institutions. Kentera's business partners and companies earned millions during the reign of Svetozar Marović and DPS by participating in the organization of numerous cultural events in Budva. Some of these cases are being investigated by the prosecution.
For this year, the Budva Municipality has budgeted transfers of over four million euros for three institutions - Museums and Galleries, the Library and City Theater Budva and other events and cultural projects.
Last year, a good part of the municipal money went to the "Ćirilicam" and "Adriatic Games" festivals, and the key figure there is Kentera and the persons connected with him. Sources Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) point out that with these events it is intended to marginalize the Grad Theater, which many years ago pushed Kentera out of business in this event, but he and related partners found alternative ways to once again dominate Budva's cultural scene and budgets.
Kentera coordinator, selector, author of exhibitions, writer
The municipality finances this festival from several sources. One source of income goes through the Budva Tourism Organization. (TOB). She allocated around 2023 euros for programs implemented in 368.000 to valorize the cultural heritage of the city, according to a public competition. Of that, only about 54.000 euros went to the theater part of the festival "Ćirilicom", which was formally conducted by the Budva National Library.
That amount was awarded to the Belgrade production company "Beoart", whose founder is Boris Mišković, a long-term associate of Kentera and a producer of the City Theater from the era when everything in that municipality was decided by Svetozar Marović, as can be seen from the document that CIN-CG received from the library by free access.
The "Ćirilicom" festival is also financed from other sources. Thus, the Budva National Library granted another 32.000 euros to "Beoart" for the organization of the theater part of the festival, and the project coordinator was Marko Kentera. He was the actual organizer, promoter, selector, author of exhibitions, drama templates and idea creator of the performances at the festival. According to the idea of this economist graduate and his "dramatic templates", the plays: "The Tall Man", "The Ship", "The Kosara and Vladimir" and "Dragon from the Rescue", as well as the dance project "Building of Shkodra" were realized.
The contract states that Kentera did the work on a voluntary basis. But as a volunteer, he was required to prepare a narrative and financial report, and each individual involved in the program had to have Kentera's written consent.
Then, the Municipality financed the arrival of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarčuk for this festival with 60.000 euros. This work was not done directly by the Library, but by the publishing house "Obodsko slovo" headed by Radomir Uljarević. He is also the president of the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Montenegro. The contract states that "Cyrillic" is the author's work of this non-governmental association.
Together with the long-time director of the Budva Museum and Galleries, Lucija Đurašković, Kentera is also the organizer of some of last year's exhibitions shown as part of the "Ćirilicam" festival. He is also the co-author of the book "Madonna in Punta", published at that festival, and the co-author of the story "Zmaj sa Spasa", which was also published in the publishing edition of the "Ćirilica" program, based on which the play was staged.
Last year, Kentera was also the author of other projects financed by TOB, besides the "Ćirilic" festival. He is the co-author of the exhibition "permanent virtual-digital installation", again with Đurašković, which is a project for which TOB allocated 31.000 euros. The two are also the authors of the Budva Museum exhibition "Digitally Enriched Frescoes", a project funded by TOB with 28.000 euros. In the announcements for all these art projects, it is stated that they were created "with the help of artificial intelligence".
Last year, Kentera was also involved in the "Adriatic Games" festival, which is also financed by TOB, which he confirms on his profile on the Linkedin network, noting that he was also engaged as a professional associate there as a volunteer.
"It is incomprehensible that institutions founded by the state or the city to organize something, hire private companies or persons to do the work for them, and that the names of the same people who are not experts are being used in these companies," said an interlocutor well-versed in cultural affairs for CIN-CG. events in Budva, who wished to remain anonymous.
In such situations, it can be assumed that it is not a matter of public interest.
Kentera did not answer CIN-CG's questions about dealings with Budva institutions, but also whether he thinks he is in a conflict of interest considering that his godfather Nemanja Kuljača is at the head of TOB.
Milo Božović, business associate of Kuljaca and Kentera
Director of TOB Nemanja Kuljača, who according to the court verdict was illegally elected to that position, is Kenter's long-term collaborator in most of the disputed cases. The two companies are connected by the companies "Multimedia Group", "Kopirajt" and "Patent", some of which are still active today. Through the mentioned companies, they have been providing various marketing and organizational services for the municipality for almost two decades, in the amount of millions.
Kuljača's wife Sonja heads the Secretariat for Finances of the Municipality of Budva, and his sister Jelena Savić heads the Municipal Secretariat for the Economy. Both secretariats are responsible for the supervision and financing of TOB.
The mayor of Budva, Milo Božović, from the ranks of the former Democratic Front (DF), who is currently in prison on suspicion of involvement in organized drug smuggling, is also connected with Kenter and Kuljač.
According to data from Poslovna network, two decades ago Kentera and Božović ran the Budva Municipality company for the management of advertising space "Mediteran Reklame". Božović was a member of the Management Board of that company, and both were representatives of this company until 2005.
Božović was co-owner and representative of the company "Patent" until February 2010, and now Nemanja Kuljača is the owner of that company in CRPS.
According to data from the Serbian Register of Business Entities, Božović and Marko Kentera were co-owners of the Belgrade company "Tipon" until December 2018. Now Kentera is co-owner of this company with Petro Miloš, known to the public for, until recently, the only permanently confiscated real estate in Montenegro. The confiscation of the 193 square meter apartment from the son of Svetozar Marović, Miloš, was questioned by his former business partner Petar Miloš, who claims that he lent money to the younger Marović, on the basis of which a mortgage was registered on the property that was confiscated.
In addition to this, according to data from the Business Network, Kentera is also a co-owner of the Budva company "Agronom Primorje". Part of the ownership in that company is also owned by Marko Radoman. Interestingly, Radoman was also the executive director of Kentera's "Multimedia Group" until a few months ago. He was also a representative of the consortium "Lovćen filma" and "Art Vista", which won the disputed business of a cinema in Budva in 2014, which is now being investigated by the prosecution.
Radoman is the younger brother of Blaž Radoman, Kentera's longtime business partner, director of the Grad Theater from the Marović era.
"Kopirajt", "Multimedia Group", "Tipon" and "Agronom-Primorje" are presented on the Business Network as "sister companies", which means that they are related by ownership.
According to the Serbian registry, Kentera is also connected in business with the son of Svetozar Marović, Miloš, through the company "Family apple", which is located in Belgrade at a location next to Kentera's company "Tipon". Kentera's close relative Mirko Kentera is co-owner of the company "Family Apple" with Miloš Marović since September 2021.
Both Marovićs are in Belgrade, where they escaped the Montenegrin judiciary, which charges them with multimillion-dollar embezzlement in Budva.
It is not known how the Tourist Organization spent the money
The tourist organization of Budva has not yet submitted the financial report for 2022, so it is not clear how they spent the funds since Nemanja Kuljača became the head of this institution. In December 2023, the court ruled that Kuljača was illegally appointed to that position. Before that, the court in Kotor established that the former director of TOB, Maja Liješević, was illegally dismissed. However, Kuljača was recently re-elected as director of TOB.
TOB did not answer the questions of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) why they did not act according to the final verdict and why Kuljača is still in office. They did not answer any other questions related to the operations of that Budva company, which is why the financial report for 2022 was not submitted, in order to make it clear where the funds went.
TOB did not even answer CIN-CG's questions about how much money was spent on the "Adriatic Games" festival. From the financial plan for 2023, it can be seen that almost 200.000 euros were earmarked for this. However, there is no data on how the money was spent, as there is no report for 2023 yet.
The financial report for 2022 was supposed to be ready by the end of March 2023, after which the mayor of Budva, who is ex-officio president of the TOB Assembly, was supposed to convene a session, at which the report would be adopted. Božović was arrested in April 2023.
According to the statute of TOB, the regular session of the Assembly of this organization is held once a year. In the last three years, only one session was held, the director of the National Tourist Organization (NTO) Ana Tripković Marković told CIN-CG. According to the statute, the Assembly had the right to schedule a session even without the presence of the president.
That it is very important to the interest groups in Budva who is at the head of TOB, was previously confirmed by the dismissed director of this organization. After her dismissal, Liješević claimed that the problem was her refusal to accept pressure and business combinations with various groups and related persons, who wanted to spend TOB's money in an inappropriate manner.
Liješević clarified for CIN-CG that she was dismissed because they could not manage someone who professionally performs the work, and that she did not allow projects that were not in the field of activity of the tourist organization or were not in the organization's program and work plan, which is legally binding, not specifying which projects these are. She stated that she was primarily under political pressure from the then, and at the same time, the current ruling political group in Budva.
"I am not a member of any political party and that was certainly a big problem," she pointed out.
Her lawyer Siniša Gazivoda confirmed that, despite the final decision of the court, Kuljača was again elected as the head of the TOB, and that he filed a new lawsuit for the annulment of that decision because the competencies and qualifications of the candidate were not considered again.
The survival of the oldest festival is in question
Inadequate financing of events, from TOB and the Municipality of Budva, could seriously threaten the most famous festival in that city, "Grad Teatar", which has been held since 1987.
"Grad Teatr" told CIN-CG that it would be natural for all theater programs to be combined in that festival. Most of the projects that are presented at the new festivals are done with the former collaborators of "Grad Teatra", and many participants from the side are mistaken and think that it is the same festival, because the same scenes and spaces are used, they state.
"If you really want to improve cultural life, then with the money that is used to finance these festivals individually, you should build a theater or at least a hall, which Budva doesn't have until today", concludes the "Grad Teatr".
During the time of DPS, Kuljač and Kenter performed numerous jobs for "Grad Teatar".
Together with Kopirajta, Kentera also took over the debt collection of Nemanja Kuljača's company "Patent" from Budva, which in 2013 concluded a contract on the technical realization of the festival with "Grad Teatr". From 2007 to 2012, Kentera, through "Multimedia Group", had a contract with "Grad Teatra" for the realization of a drama program, in the amount of 460.000 euros per year.
Only from 2009 to 2015, the companies "Kopirajt" and "Multimedia" achieved a financial profit of over six million euros by doing business with the Municipality of Budva.
But it seems that it was not enough, so after the change of government in Budva in 2017, he started a series of lawsuits against the Municipality for copyright infringement and collection of promissory notes and various other claims. Only through court rulings did Kentera receive hundreds of thousands of euros at the expense of earlier cooperation with the municipality.
The prosecution is still investigating the Lovćen film
The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) has been investigating the operations of Kentera's "Lovćen Film" for a long time in connection with the Cadmus Cinneplex cinema in Budva. SDT told CIN-CG that the investigation is still ongoing.
"After collecting notifications from the Central Register of Business Entities (CRPS) and inspecting the files of the Commercial Court, a request was submitted to the Special Police Department for the collection of evidence, notifications and data necessary for decision-making," said special prosecutor Vukas Radonjić.
The last application, which is being processed by the SDT, was submitted in September 2022, against several persons - the former mayor of Budva Lazar Rađenović, the current founder and executive director of "Lovćen film" Marko Kentera, the founder of that company Vladan Sretenović, the director of "Art Vista" Zoran Cvetanović, as well as against the companies "Lovćen film" and "Art Vista", for giving a twenty-year lease of valuable municipal property for a cinema. According to the criminal complaint, they were the only bidders behind the consortium "Budva Cinneplex consortium" in 2013 at the tender of the Municipality of Budva for the lease of space of 2.000 square meters, for the purpose of opening a cinema in Budva. In this consortium, "Lovćen Film" had a 95 percent stake.
The space was offered without setting a minimum price, and the Municipality, according to the contract, had the obligation to provide support of no more than 200.000 euros per year.
However, the consortium asked the Municipality for an additional 180.000 per year for organizing the film festival, which Radjenović accepted and signed in 2014. On this basis, "Lovćen Film" collected about one and a half million euros from the Municipality of Budva, only from January 2015 to April 2018.
The report adds that, contrary to the tender and without the approval of the Assembly, Rađenović imposed that the citizens of Budva pay wages, parking, electricity, garbage collection, as well as building maintenance and advertising space. These costs alone cost the Municipality around six million euros. The contract does not even mention the rental price, the application adds.
Kentera's dubious involvement in the entire project is further highlighted, because at the time of signing the contract it was not officially part of the consortium, but in connection with the contract, in 2013, it held a meeting with Rađenović, the representative of the consortium, Marko Radoman and the then municipal manager Milena Marović Bogdanović, daughter Svetozar Marović. Kentera only became the majority owner of "Lovćen Film" in 2021 with a 90 percent share.
"The involvement of Kentera from the beginning of the project, its direct participation in negotiations and behind-the-scenes agreements, giving the project to a consortium in which Lovćen film, as a newly established legal entity without any experience, makes absolutely all decisions, led precisely to the takeover of that legal entity by Kentera," he writes. in the application.
That it was a criminal plan whose goal was to "fix the job", it is concluded in the report submitted by the then secretary for property protection Nikola Plamenac, is also confirmed by the fact that only a year before the tender was announced, the company "Mega kom film" received offer to participate in the implementation of the cinema project for much smaller allocations from the budget. That offer did not go through, but the Municipality left the work to a consortium, which closed the cinema last February.
The owner of "Kopirajt" was not responsible for multi-million embezzlement
In 2016, the company Kopirajt, owned by Marko Kentera, admitted in a settlement that it had illegally obtained benefits of over two million euros through its dealings with the Municipality of Budva.
The then executive director of Kopirajt, Aleksandar Armenko, agreed to spend half a year in prison as a member of Marović's criminal group, while the company Kopirajt was given a conditional sentence. Armenko, who was the deputy director of TOB before that, is still working in that organization. Interestingly, the prosecution established at the time that in all the embezzlements, Armenko never obtained any material benefit for himself.
Although the founder and owner of the company, Kentera was in no way responsible for the multimillion-dollar embezzlement of the company.
Taxi driver, waiter and caterer at the Museum Council
A waiter, a receptionist, a taxi driver were appointed to the Council of Museums and Galleries of Budva... At the last session of the local parliament, at the end of December last year, a discussion on the dismissals and new appointments of this Council was scheduled. According to the website of the Budva Municipal Assembly, it was planned that almost all members of the Council would renew their mandate, but instead of the current waiter, a private restaurateur is proposed for the new president.
However, the President of the Assembly, Nikola Jovanović, decided to skip the appointment of members of the Council, even though several councilors were against it.
Member of the United Reform Action (URA) Ivan Ivanović pointed out at the session that since 2019 the report on the work of the Museum and Gallery has not been adopted:
"Every year we give more than a million euros to that institution, but we have never received a report for consideration".
Ivanovic stated that the company has been dominated by greed for years and that director Đurašković "does what she wants on her own." He also mentioned that Kentera is involved in many businesses.
30.000 euros for a few months of running social networks
As one example of questionable work, of excessive value, is the contract that "Multimedia Group" signed with TOB in 2017, which concerns "campaigns on social networks". Kuljača and the current executive director of Kuljača's "Patent" Nikola Mitrović are considered as authorized persons for this public procurement, while Kentera is the executive director, as can be seen from the decision on the selection of "Multimedia Group" as the best offer.
The obligations of "Multimedia Group" from this contract are to provide TOB promotion services on social networks for slightly less than 30.000 euros, and only from May to November of that year. In the decision on the best offer, it is stated that the reason for choosing "Multimedia Group" for this project is that it has collaborated with numerous global influencers on social networks who have over a million followers.
However, almost seven years later, TOB's Instagram page has around 16.000 followers, and 33.000 on Facebook.
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