Podgorica (11 February 2011) – Today MANS filed criminal charges against Vujica Lazović, the Vice President of the Government of Montenegro and the former President of the Privatization Council, on allegations that he abused his position in the tender process for the Valdanos coastal strip near Ulcinj.
The main criteria of the tender required that the eventual lessee must: be an international four star plus (or five star) hotel operator; demonstrate sufficient financial capacity for the project; and show that the firm had 100-million euros in revenues last year. A secondary set of conditions included the need to demonstrate positive financial results in the past three years.
The Tender Commission and the Privatization Council, which was headed by Vujica Lazović, accepted the offer submitted by the British company Cubus Lux.
The financial statements of Cubus Lux that MANS has gained access to indicate that in 2009 this company had recorded 2-million GBP in losses, while in 2010 they suffered a further 3.5-million GBP in losses. According to the available information, Cubus Lux had a total of 56-million euros in assets. The company is expected to invest some 222-million euros in the Valdanos project and is looking at local Montenegrin banks for financing.
All of the above raises suspicions that Cubus Lux has not fulfilled the key conditions set by the tender for the Valdanos tourism development project
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having failed to realize at least 100-million in revenues, not having positive financial results in the last three years, etc.
Regardless of the above facts, the Privatization Council accepted Cubus Lux’s offer and suggested that the government conclude a deal with the company. It’s unclear on what grounds this deal was approved by the members of the Tender Commission and the Privatization Council. For months now Lazović has avoided revealing how exactly Cubus Lux is supposed to have met the tender conditions enumerated above. As the president of the Privatization Council, Lazović must have been familiar with all of this data. The company’s multimillion pound losses should have raised alarm bells and influenced the Privatization Council’s final decision.
Keeping in mind the available information concerning Cubus Lux’s business dealings, we believe that there are sufficient grounds for forcing Lazović to explain his behavior in front of the State Prosecutor (even if he is still unwilling to do so before the citizen’s of Montenegro).
MANS yesterday called on the new president of the Privatization Council and Prime Minister Igor Lukšić to suspend the decision on the Valdanos lease and to release the initial draft agreement in relation to that project. The government today released the draft agreement, including the investment plan, the calculation of annual rents and a description of the location and assets being leased. We believe that this type of government ‘transparency’
is merely cosmetic. It is insufficient in marking a clean break from the established practice whereby the government doles out crucial information of public interest only in small quantities (and often with considerable delays).
Given that the Valdanos deal could have serious consequences for the public interest, we are asking that the Prosecutor’s Office react prompty to the situation and thus prevent the worse from happening.
