Mrvaljević responds to the Judo Federation: Don't use athletes as a cover for financial affairs

The Judo Federation of Montenegro today rejected the allegations of Srđan Mrvaljević, who in recent days posted on social media that the State Railways of Montenegro paid the company MNE Sport doo 680 thousand euros during last year's European Championships in Podgorica, so that it could pass the money on to companies that were involved in the organization of the major competition in the capital of Montenegro.

This was followed by the response of the celebrated judoka, whose reaction we are reporting in full:

"Mr. Rečević, do not use athletes as a cover for financial affairs - answer the clearly posed questions. Mr. Rečević, Unlike you who run away from answers and TV duels, I have nothing to hide. My club's delegate came to the Assembly solely to respect the law and the legality of the institution.

You proudly boast about "unanimous support", while consciously concealing and hiding from the public the only truth - you were the only candidate!

You are brutally manipulating the public by claiming that the disputed financial report has been adopted. The truth is that the Parliament adopted only the regular report for budget funds of 350.000 euros, which you submitted to the delegates on a single A4 sheet of paper! I am now sending this very "report" to the public for review, so let the citizens and the sports public assess for themselves whether the spending of so much state money on a single piece of paper is justified.

Do not drag clubs and athletes into your potential financial and legal problems and do not use them as a cover for abuses. No one has ever voted, nor would any club knowingly allow 660.000 euros to be transferred to the private company of a member of the Board of Directors!

You proudly wave the claim that the Ministry of Sports and Youth has accepted this report of yours. Mr. Rečević, such a "document" could not pass inspection even at an ordinary green market, let alone in a serious state institution!

The fact that such a paper received the formal green light raises reasonable suspicion that the former leadership of the ministry knowingly turned a blind eye to obvious irregularities and covered up this scandal.

That's why I publicly ask the former minister:

How and with what professional face could he accept such an embarrassment from the report of millions of euros of money from all citizens of Montenegro and is there a political umbrella of individuals from the government behind this project?

Now I see that you are trying to ineptly justify yourself to the public, and you are bragging about how you only recently announced the contract with the company "MNE Sport". But you forget that the public is not blind! I invite the media and the competent authorities to take a look at your masterpiece - a contract for an astonishing 660.000 euros written on just two and a half pages! That document does not mention budget codes, nor a defined payment schedule, nor clear specifications of obligations.

According to legal experts, such a document is in every sense legally untenable, disputable and contrary to elementary business standards!

And now, for the fifth time, I publicly call on you to finally stop with your worn-out phrases and clearly answer the public, just as I answered you at this moment:

1. Why did the Judo Federation of Montenegro, to which the Government allocated 2 million euros of state money for the organization of the European Championship, leave the job to a private company that broadcasts TV channels and has no experience in organization, instead of paying all invoices directly from its own account as a legal entity, and why did it allow that company to then subcontract 30 different companies for transportation, transport, PR and logistics?

2. What shall we do with the Public Procurement Law, given that the report submitted to the Ministry does not include a single tender or public procurement? The Judo Federation is mostly financed from the budget, and especially when it comes to these millions of euros, you had a legal obligation to announce tenders and follow procedures - why did you consciously bypass that?

3. How do you explain the classic invoice "splitting" scheme and why were not all contracts with serious logistics systems consolidated, but rather invoices were deliberately fragmented, so that, for example, several separate invoices with different amounts were paid to the same company on a single day, just to bypass the control system?

4. Why were some companies financed and paid twice – both from the account of the company "MNE Sport doo" and directly from the account of the Judo Federation of Montenegro for the same job performed?

5. If Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) was the official general media sponsor of the European Championship and owned all the equipment for free broadcast, why did the Judo Federation pay several other private companies engaged in similar business and streaming? Were these parallel invoices used exclusively to siphon off state money?

6. Is it true that Turkish citizen Hakan Dogan simultaneously holds the position of President of the Judo Federation of the Cayman Islands and the position of Technical Director of the Judo Federation of Montenegro? Do you believe that such an international conflict of functions and the management of the Federation from exotic islands is serious, ethical and in the interest of Montenegrin sport?

7. How do you comment on the resignation of the President of the Supervisory Board of the Judo Federation, otherwise the head of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bar, Mr. Radovan Đurišić? How do you explain the fact that the respected prosecutor clearly and explicitly states in his resignation that, despite the legal obligation, you did not submit financial reports to him for inspection and control?

8. How do you explain that in that "report" of half an A4 sheet, which you duly signed and stamped, you officially informed us that the Capital City of Podgorica earned an incredible 9 million euros from this organization - and without a single piece of evidence, study or financial analysis attached? I hereby publicly ask both you and Mayor Mujović: is it true that Podgorica made so much profit at all, where is that huge money and what exactly was it spent on?

9. Why did you include in the official study, when you requested millions of euros in funds from the Government of Montenegro, an item for "prize fund for medal winners", when we all in sports know very well that there are no monetary prizes for competitors at the European Judo Championships? Where did that money end up that was requested under the false pretext of financing fighters?

10. How do you explain the fact that you withdrew and paid a staggering 25.000 euros in cash directly into the hands of the Association's account, under the item "volunteers"? Since when and under what law has volunteer and unpaid work been paid in this way, and how is the state budget justified with such cash payments?

11. And for the very end, the last, but perhaps the most important question: What sporting result did you deliver to the citizens of Montenegro after the millions of euros of state money you spent?

Mr. Rečević, at the very end I want to tell you clearly: this is just the tip of the iceberg! What we have seen so far is just a piece of paper that you submitted to the Ministry.

The real truth and full information about all the questionable money flows will see the light of day when we receive the analytical cards from the Judo Federation. The time for their delivery to you is rapidly running out, as they have already been officially requested from several relevant addresses.

Then we will clearly see where the rest of the money from the hotel arrangements ended up, which according to my estimates and analyses cannot be less than 400.000 to 500.000 euros!

We will also see where the generous sponsorships of state giants such as Monteput, Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) and CEDIS, as well as other private sponsors from whom you took huge amounts of money for the organization of this competition, which is not transparently shown anywhere, ended up! ", reads the statement by Srđan Mrvaljević.