Once the most important tourist company in Herceg Novi was sold in late 2007, so the buyer would invest in the reconstruction of existing and construction of new hotels in order to improve the tourist offer of the city and increase number of jobs. However, nine years later, almost nothing has been invested in once prestigious hotels, while some locations, where construction of new hotels was planned, are turned into parking lots.
Employees have not been receiving salaries for months, which threatens the existence of their families, while the buyer’s company is bankrupt. Hotel-tourist company manages valuable real estate on the coast The case study shows how a valuable tourist complex, which includes valuable land and buildings, was sold at much lower price than what was its market value, and that the government concluded a detrimental contract with the buyer – the company of Dragan Brkovic, a businessman from Podgorica – who was favored at the expense of the public
interest.
The study further shows how the alleged strategic buyer did not fulfill contractual obligations, but this was not enough for the Government to terminate the contract with him. Instead, he had additional benefits and extended the deadline for implementation of the investment plan.
However, the investor did not respect extended deadlines either. Also, it shows below how Dragan Brkovic’s company bought a hotel complex in Herceg Novi on a bank loan, which was not repaid subsequently, thus forcing the businessman to guarantee for investments with his own real estates. The price of those real estates was estimated to a much larger amount than they are worth according to the market and was not sufficient to guarantee the investments.
Today, the real estates of the hotel group “Boka” are also burdened with mortgages, while a whole series of moves made in this investment, which was presented by the Government as strategic, suggests that there was an intention of responsible individuals in the executive branch to allow Brkovic to take hands on a valuable asset. This indicates severe abuses of official duties that are in the zone of criminal responsibility, thus making engagement of the state prosecutor’s office necessary.
Even in the beginning of 2016, the Government has not presented a way out of the impasse in the case of “Boka” in order to stop further deterioration of the tourism industry in the whole country, not only in Herceg Novi, or create new jobs.
Complete study download HERE (PDF)
