Documentation obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre finally confirms that the value of the land sold by the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Ivan Brajović, was far higher than its market value, and that the entire business was fabricated by Brajović to justify the acquisition of €150 thousand needed for settling of bank debts.
At the end of 2013, Ivan Brajović entered into a preliminary agreement with the company Free Energy (later renamed Energo Invest Group) for the sale of nearly 4,500 m2 of land in Kosić, Municipality of Danilovgrad. The price that was agreed on that occasion amounted to €150,000.
At the time, the owners of Free Energy were Serbian businessmen Ratko Stanivuković and Svetomir Stefanovic. In mid-2015, Stefanović left the company, and its name was changed into Energo Invest Group.
Just two days after signing this contract, Atlas Bank granted Free Energy a short-term loan of exactly €150 thousand. One of the security measures was the possibility of registering a mortgage on Brajović’s property.
However, the mortgage on that land was put in June 2016, more than two years after the loan for the purchase of it was taken. An integral part of the mortgage agreement was the real estate appraisal report, which states that the value of the land amounts to €81 thousand, which is almost half of the amount paid to Ivan Brajović by the company.
Data obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre show that Atlas Bank asked for deleting of mortgage after six months, and by a memo of January 13, 2017, it informed the land register of Danilovgrad that Energo Invest Group (formerly Free Energy) had fully settled its debts on a loan of €150 thousand.
Two weeks after that, the company sold for €55,000 the land it bought from Brajović for €150,000. The new owner is Dražen Vujisić, one of the drivers of Duško Knežević, chairman of the Atlas Group, suspected by the Special State Prosecution Office for money laundering.
These transactions between the President of the Parliament, Energo Invest Group and Atlas Bank leave little room for believing that this is a legitimate business. This is all the more so bearing in mind that there is no reasonable economic logic behind the decision for the land which was paid 150,000 to be sold for only one-third of that amount after only a few years, except for the intention of allowing Brajović to gain illicit income.
Duško Knežević, chairman of the Atlas Group, in his previous statements on this case did not hide the information that Brajović received €150 thousand with his mediation, while the documentation obtained by MANS definitely confirms that it was a fictitious business that allowed Brajović to justify illegal income.
Dejan Milovac
MANS Investigative Centre
Different valuation of Brajović’s land
The extent to which the sale of land was actually fictitious business is shown by very different estimates of its value.
The value of this parcel was first estimated by Societe General Bank in 2010, when Brajović pledged it for a housing loan with this bank. At that time, the value of about 4500 m2 in Bjelopavlići was estimated at about €89 thousand, which corresponded to the amount of the interest-bearing loan.
After that, at the end of 2013, Brajović sold the parcel to Free Energy for €150,000. In mid-2016, Atlas Bank did a new assessment and the plots were worth €81 thousand.
Finally, in early 2017, the land was formally purchased from the company by Dražen Vujisić for the amount of only €55 thousand.
