Ten days after the spectacular arrest and then release of the suspects in the Bauxites affair, Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) has not issued an investigation order. The collection of evidence is still ongoing and SDT has told Dnevne Novine newspaper that the inquiry will be ended when the relevant conditions are met.
A total of 18 people, including deputy minister of Economy Vladan Dubljevic, majority owner and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cetinje-based Bauxites company Radoslav Nikcevic and officer of the Directorate of Mines of the Ministry of Economy Nebojsa Koprivica were arrested on 26 April on suspicion of abuse of official position costing the state budget at least €200,000.
Police also arrested officials of the Directorate of Mines Vesna Vujacic, Ljiljana Maksimovic and Radosav Covic, the head of the Cetinje Property Directorate Snezana Popivoda, clerk of the directorate, Mirjana Mirkovic, the head of the Cetinje Real Estate Administration Tanja Aleksic and the administration officer and Sreten Milacic. The arrested also included former deputy minister for mining Radonja Minic, the company CEOs Draguljub Radonjic and Branimir Kontic, former member of the Bauxites Board of Directors Vuksan Kecojevic, the head of sector at the Institute of Geological Research, Darko Bozovic, founder and executive director of Cetinje-based Mianja company Boris and Ivana Vujovic, and Niksic resident Filip Kovacevic. After questioning, only Nikcevic and Koprivica were remanded in 72 hour custody. After the 72 expired, they were released too.
SDT believes that since March 2006 the suspects, as the responsible persons in two legal entities, as well as officials in relevant government bodies, have organised a criminal group in Niksic, Podgorica and Cetinje in order to obtain illegal gain. Unofficially, the government commission for concessions made a report based on which the concession was granted to the Bauxites Cetinje company “for exploiting white bauxite, although, according to SDT, there were no conditions for that.
The same case includes also embezzlements related to registering property which did not belong to the said company in Cetinje cadastre. The Real Estate Administration of Cetinje wrongfully registered the property as if it belonged to Nikcevic’s company. SDT believes that the suspects were involved in inappropriate spending of government loans.
