Secret flights of the government aircraft: NEW YEAR’S ADVENTURE OF THE PRESIDENT OF MONTENEGRO

Secret flights of the government aircraft

New Year’s adventure of the President of Montenegro

The aircraft of the Government of Montenegro, licenses plates 4O-MNE, landed on the runway in Golubovci on January 10 after a two-hour flight from Paris to Podgorica. Mercedes-Maybach S, licence plates PG HM862 was waiting for the passengers from this flight at the Podgorica airport, accompanied by two official vehicles registered at the Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro (MUPCG). The luxury black Maybach is one of two vehicles of this brand used by the Prime Minister and the President. The vehicle waiting for passengers at the airport is used to transport Montenegro’s President, Milo Đukanović.

Mercedes-Maybach of Montenegro’s President leaving Podgorica airport on January 10.

More information about President Đukanović’s visit to France and whether it was official or private could not be obtained from his cabinet. In addition, there is no information on his visit to France on the website of the President of Montenegro, nor on official accounts on social media where the President’s Cabinet always publishes this information.

What is known is that the government aircraft left for Paris the day before, on January 9, to pick the President Đukanović up, and he returned the next day to Montenegro when MANS’ investigators took a photo of his vehicle at the Podgorica airport.

Flight of the government aircraft, route Podgorica – Pariz – Podgorica, December 29, 2019

Đukanović’s cabinet did not answer the question when Đukanović left for France, whether he also used the aircraft of the Government of Montenegro, and whether Paris was the final destination of his journey.

However, data obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre show that Đukanović left Montenegro most likely on December 29, when the Government’s Lear Jet45 from Podgorica flew to Paris and immediately returned to Montenegro. The time between landing at the Paris airport and taking off again to Podgorica was about an hour and a half.

Flight of the government aircraft, route Podgorica – Pariz – Podgorica, January 9-10, 2020

In the meantime, footage of the President Đukanović and his wife appearing in one of the Miami restaurants in the United States were released to the public. His cabinet neither confirmed nor denied that President Đukanović spent the New Year’s Eve in Miami.

The right to use the government aircraft free of charge for official purposes have the heads of state, government and parliament, as stated in the Instruction issued by the Secretariat-General of the Government, which disposes of the state aircraft.

Questions addressed to the Secretary-General Nataša Pešić about whether the use of the aircraft was formally requested from the President’s cabinet and for what purposes, MANS Investigative Centre did not receive an answer.

MANS also requested documentation from the Secretariat on what basis the use of a state aircraft was authorized. In its response to the request for free access to information, the Secretariat-General marked these documents classified, believing that their publication could endanger the security of protected persons.

“The forms can determine departure, direction of movement and closer location of the protected person and other records from which security data can be obtained that could pose a security risk to the protected person,” the decision of the Secretariat-General states.

MANS believes that it is unacceptable for top state institutions to withhold information of public importance for weeks:

“This is especially problematic when it comes to information that may indicate a breach of the law and abuse of office, and information that the President may have used a state aircraft for personal use, certainly is such information. The suspicion that a government aircraft is being used for private purposes by a narrow circle of people in power is not new and we believe that the competent State Prosecutor’s Office has more than enough reason to address this issue”, the NGO stated.

MANS’ investigators have enquired into how much a private trip from Podgorica to Paris and back would cost Đukanović if he paid it out of his own pocket.

The offers MANS received from several charter companies dealing with private jet rentals ranged from 17 to 26 thousand Euros for a return flight between Podgorica and Paris.