The action Tornado resulted in arresting of a Bijelo Polje resident, Ibrahim Kadic, who is charged with illegal borrowing of tens of thousands of euros, for which he allegedly levied a monthly interest rate of ten percent or more.
Police allegedly identified a number of persons who borrowed money from Kadic at usurious conditions, who then appropriated the belongings of those who did not have money to pay the astonishingly growing rate.
Despite all of this, Kadic was again a free man just one day after his arrest, because the prosecutor said there are no grounds to hold him detained.
Authorities’ main excuse is that victims don’t report the criminals. Commenting on the action Tornado, Mp and member of the Committee on Political System, Justice and Administration, Draginja Vuksanovic, says this excuse is not valid.
“By order of the competent state prosecutor, and in cooperation with the police, the action that you refer to has been executed. However, one action is not nearly close enough. Everybody knows there are plenty of these cases in Montenegro. You cannot expect a victim of unfortunate life situations and conditions to testify about these things. Especially if he receives threats about endangering the safety and security of his family. However, state authorities are expected to do more work, with less pomp, and achieve better results. I believe the application of surveillance and other operative measures can and must achieve much more”, says Draginja Vuksanovic.
Police Director, Slavko Stojanovic, last year announced that over 230 loan sharks are recorded, and that 40 of them are listed as members of organized criminal groups. He then announced a crackdown on this type of crime for September 2014, but the only thing that happened in the meantime is the ‘Tornado’ where only one man was arrested, and who found himself a free man the very next day.
Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense, Velizar Kaluđerović, said this is another example of the lack of will of authorities to come to grips with a very severe problem that is seriously contributing to the general criminalization of our society.
“As member of the board, I participated in the meeting which was closed to the public, where I had the opportunity to hear information related to this issue. I can only say the data is very concerning, and presented by representatives of the competent state bodies in a way that indicates the issue is very serious. The mere fact that the board had to organize a closed session to deal with this issue separately from other items on the agenda speaks about the severity of this problem. In relation to the reaction and what we have so far, I can go back to my statement that we are far from effective action by competent state bodies”, said Kaluđrović.
