Today, the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) filed a criminal complaint against the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), its President Milo Đukanović, responsible persons in that party, as well as against several NN persons – DPS activists on suspicion of money laundering, forgery of official documentс and violations of the freedom of choice in voting.
In a criminal complaint filed with the Special Prosecutor for Suppressing of Organized Crime, Corruption, Terrorism and War Crimes, it is stated that the reported persons made a conversion of 100 thousand Dollars into Euros, whose origin they concealed, knowing that it was money obtained by a criminal offense; made official documents – financial reports and reports on the financing of election campaigns with false data in which donations received by DPS were not mentioned. In addition, they used the money through the activists to influence the freedom of voting i.e. to buy votes in elections in Zeta.
It is reminded that on January 12 this year, a video was published in the media that shows that in his house in Zeta the president of the Atlas Group, Duško Knežević, handed over an envelope to DPS official Slavoljub Stijepović, stating that there was €97.5 thousand in it, and that he had previously converted $100,000, after which Stijepović went to the pre-election rally of DPS in Zeta.
“Duško Knežević has repeatedly publicly announced that the handing over of this money in the amount of €97.5 thousand to Slavoljub Stijepović was previously arranged with DPS President Milo Đukanović. Đukanović denied this publicly, but confirmed that Knežević was a donor of DPS and that all donations were carefully recorded in the DPS’s bookkeeping, pointing out that the party would be held liable if it is proved that it had violated the law,” the statement said.
In the reports on the financing of election campaigns published on the website of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, there is no Duško Knežević or his companies on the list of donors. Also, from the audit of the financial statements of the DPS, conducted by the State Audit Institution (SAI), it is found that DPS did not register donations from Knežević and his companies.
“It appears that the responsible persons of DPS, by order of Đukanović and with his knowledge, have a double bookkeeping, one for the party’s needs in which they state accurate data on donations and the other, which they submit to the competent authorities in which the false information is provided and in which donations are hidden.
Thus, the reported persons forged the documents – financial reports and reports on the financing of election campaigns, which must be conducted in accordance with the law, because they have entered inaccurate data that have been verified by the signatures and seal of DPS,” it is stated in the criminal report.
We remind that the State Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had initiated proceedings against Stijepović and Knežević for money laundering. “However, the abovementioned facts and evidence point to the reasonable suspicion that Milo Đukanović, DPS, responsible persons in that party, and the activists of that party, committed the crimes they were charged with in this complaint. In addition, DPS official Milenko Maraš confirmed in a statement to the media that Stijepović, for the needs of the election campaign, distributed €47.5 thousand to the headquarters in his home place, i.e. Zeta”, it is stated in the complaint.
Previously, due to suspicion of money laundering, MANS also filed a criminal complaint on February 4 against Đukanović, president of the Atlas Group Duško Knežević, businessmen Dušan Ban and Željko Mihailović, as well as against the former director of the Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering, Predrag Mitrović, due to Đukanović’s loan at Pireus Bank.
On January 23, MANS filed a request to initiate proceedings in which APC would determine whether Đukanović had violated the law because there is a suspicion that he did not report the income from Atlas Bank in the amount of at least €16,741.24, which is the amount of his debt on the payment card that was paid by Knežević. APC rejected the request, after which we also filed a criminal complaint against the Agency Director Sreten Radonjić based on suspicion that he had abused his official position.
The complaint was also filed to APC due to suspicion that Kneževic, with tens of thousands of Euros, financed the expenses of the trip to Dubai for Milo Đukanović and Branimir Gvozdenović, which they did not state in their income and property reports.
MANS
