Podgorica (24 February 2011) – Today MANS delivered letters to the embassies of EU countries and the USA, including the EU delegation and their representative Leopold Maurer, about the Valdanos affair.
We familiarized the ambassadors with the details of the case and the way in which the tender procedure was carried out, including allegations that the whole process has been burdened by extreme violations of Montenegro’s laws.
In its letter to ambassadors, MANS focused on the government’s lack of transparency when it comes to Valdanos. Even though the public interest in the case is clear, the government has decided not to release all the relevant facts explaining how Cubus Lux managed to win the tender.
We also emphasized worries regarding the insistence of the government, especially some of its high representatives, in carrying out a deal with Cubus Lux in spite of the evident violations of the law associated with this deal.
MANS is particularly worried by the government’s attitude towards the NGO sector, where in the concrete case of Valdanos it has tried to dismiss it as acting against the state and harming the investment climate in Montenegro.
We were hoping that the administration of Igor Lukšić would have made a break with this type of rhetoric. However, it seems that the new government has retained the tendency of treating critical NGOs with the same harshness as before.
MANS has called on the representatives of the embassies of EU countries and the USA in Montenegro to take up the Valdanos affair in their official communications with the government. They should insist on the transparency of certain government bodies and ensure that the process of dealing with state property in Montenegro be carried out in accordance with local laws and EU best practices.
The letter was sent to the embassies of Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, the United States of America and the Delegation of the EU in Montenegro.
