Vesna Medenica is obliged to explain to the public why she hid that she had sold her property to a family friend, controversial businessman Zoran Bećirović, through the complex structure of domestic and offshore companies. Such schemes are a school example of money laundering through the real estate trade, which the former Supreme State Prosecutor and the President of the Supreme Court in her third term should know.
Medenica confirmed yesterday that she had sold the disputed land and that she did not report nearly €140,000. There is no doubt that she has thus violated the law, and we expect her to be held accountable before the bodies of the Judicial Council.
However, even more important is the issue of the origin of money she received and the motive of Bećirović to secretly buy Vesna Medenica’s land in the wider area of Kolašin for a significant amount, as well as to keep his name hidden behind Cypriot and domestic companies.
Although it is unlikely that Medenica did not know who was hiding behind the companies she did business with, it is good that for the first time, after MANS’ findings, she admitted to the public that she has had long-standing friendship with Bećirović.
This statement certainly explains why during her term of office as head of the State Prosecutor’s Office (2003-2007) Vesna Medenica did not investigate suspicious business through which Bećirović made enormous profits at the expense of the state.
Thus, during her term of office, Bećirović and his partners purchased Avala Hotel for € 3.2 million, although it was estimated at nearly seven million.
The company connected to Bećirović also bought over three million square feet of land in Kolašin for only €120,000, although it was estimated at nearly ten million shortly afterwards.
While Medenica was at the middle of her term as the Supreme State Prosecutor, Bećirović’s late brother and Miloš Marović, hiding behind a Cypriot offshore, signed a contract with the Municipality of Budva to build an aqua park. The epilogue to this deal was a loan of €1.5 million taken by Bećirović and Marović and repaid by the Municipality of Budva.
We once again invite Vesna Medenica to disclose to the public all the details of the secret deal with Bećirović and explain whether the money was used only to pay for the land in wider Kolašin area, or whether there is room for suspicion of trading in influence.
MANS
