Podgorica, 27 December 2010 – Nearly three years ago MANS provided the State Prosecutor’s office with more than sufficient evidence for pursuing all actors involved in the Zavala affair, including the Minister of Urban Planning Branimir Gvozdenović and Svetozar Marović. The prosecutor’s claims that a lack of evidence was the main cause for this three-year delay is therefore disingenuous.
MANS has from the onset of the Zavala affair drawn the Prosecutor’s attention to the fact that key actors involved in the case are in a position to influence the testimony of witnesses, falsify documents, etc. given that they occupy senior positions at the local and state levels.
Three years ago we insisted that financial investigations be immediately launched to determine the origins of the huge assets and capital that was
being used to build the Zavala development. After filing criminal charges we continued to warn the Prosecutor’s Office that key actors in the Zavala affair were still concluding deals between themselves and that some might leave the country.
If the Prosecutor had acted in a timely manner the damage to the budget would have been reduced and key actors would not have had the opportunity to influence witnesses or falsify documents (which has been happening according the Prosecutor’s own admission).
Instead of acting rapidly, the Prosecutor’s Office has decided to process one of the largest cases of this type in Montenegro a full three years after the fact, at a moment when such actions can be unnecessarily politicized.
The Prosector’s lack of seriousness can be seen in the fact that a full three years after the onset of proceedings it is only now that it has sensationally announced a financial investigation – something that should have been done long ago under regular investigative procedures.
Above all, the Prosecutor should be ashamed that after three years all they could manage was the arrest of individuals who are not at the pinnacle of the pyramid responsible for the Zavala affair.
In so far as the Prosecutor fails to undertake concrete actions against Minister Branimir Gvozdenović and Svetozar Marović – and insists on reducing the whole case to a few local functionaries – it will only serve as further proof that the Prosecutor’s Office has been politicized and that
it is feigning its struggle against corruption and organized crime.
Dejan Milovac
Deputy Executive Director
Urban Development Programme Director
