According to unofficial information obtained by the daily, Branislav Gugi Savic from Budva, who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in multimillion embezzlements in Budva, is negotiating on a plea bargain with the prosecution, offering to pay €4m. For the time being, it has not been accepted because the prosecution believes that he should pay €7m to compensate the municipality of Budva.
Savic, the owner of the company Gugi Commerce was arrested upon the order of the Special Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of being a part of a criminal organisation involved in three municipal capital projects – the construction of the concert plateau at the beach of Jaz, which was estimated to cost the municipal budget €2.1m; the construction of the Donji Bulevar (Lower Boulevard) in Budva, which was estimated to cost the municipal budget €3.7m and the construction of a rural road in the village of Krapina, which was estimated to cost the municipal budget €1.1m. The costs were estimated by the expert hired by the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Within the investigation, it is also expected that the further costs were caused in a few “minor” cases would be proved.
A few days ago the High Court in Podgorica accepted the plea bargain reached between the Special State Prosecutor’s Office and Trade Unique company and its director Goran Bojanic.
Those are two plea bargains between the prosecution and Bojanic in the TQ Plaza case and in the case of the construction of waste water treatment plant in the neighbourhood of Vjestica, as well as a plea bargain reached with Trade Unique company.
Details of the Bojanic’s plea bargains will be announced once it comes into force. According to the previously gained information, the Trade Unique, owned by businessman Mirko Latinovic, agreed to transfer 8,000 square meters of office and housing space worth €19.5m to the ownership of the Municipality of Budva.
The president of the Municipality of Budva, Srdja Popovic, told Dnevne Novine daily that the municipality would register the property in its ownership once the agreement came into force.
“Once the property is registered, we will call the tender for its sale, because the money is necessary for the municipality, which is already in financial crisis,” said Popovic.
The Prosecution is also expected to start negotiations on a plea bargain in Copyright affair.
In late January, assistant director of the Tourism Organisation of Budva Aleksandar Armenko was questioned by the Special Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of having participated in about €2m embezzlements. Armenko is one of the suspects in Copyright affair. The prosecution is investigating connections of Rajko Kuljaca and Marko Kentera in this case, whereas the former president of the Municipality of Budva Lazar Radjenovic has already pleaded guilty in the case. During the questioning, Armenko denied having been involved in the case.
A plea bargain is also expected in the WTA case. A German citizen Gunter Faust was granted a status of cooperative witness in the case related to the waste water treatment system in Budva.
At the end of last year, criminal charges against Lazar Radjenovic, the Trade Unique company, WTE Wassertechnik Biochem Industries and their directors and representatives Dragan Vukadinovic, Goran Bojanic, Stjepan Skocajic, Mirko Latinovic and Gojko Kapisoda were pressed on suspicion that they cost the budget of the Municipality of Budva €8m in the project of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant. The criminal charges related to this case were later pressed against Faust and Olivera Ilincic too. In this case, Latinovic has been granted the status of cooperative witness. It is anticipated that the plea bargain in this case may be several million euro worth.
