If enough information is gathered to indicate that there is a suspicion of criminal offense in Krimovica case, the Special State Prosecutor’s Office will launch inquest and determine all facts, Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić said at a press conference in response to a question by Radio Free Europe (RFE) alleging that the Mayor of Budva, Marko Carević, illegally built his agricultural estate and occupied state land in Krimovica near Budva.
The Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor told RFE that a case was formed before that Prosecutor’s Office based on information provided by the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro that the state land in Krimovica was occupied, and that the Prosecutor’s Office was establishing relevant facts to assess whether in the conduct of any person there were elements of a criminal offense for which prosecution is undertaken ex officio.
Investigative Centre of MANS (the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector) announced that the agricultural complex in Krimovica, built by Carinvest, company of the current Mayor of Budva, Marko Carević, was built on half a million square meters of state land, where around 6.000 square meters of facilities were built without a building permit, and that everything was done with the help of the state.
“Not only that nobody questioned what he was building and occupying the land, but the state i.e. the Ministry of Agriculture, did everything to legalize his complex. Thus, this farm has a license from the Ministry of Agriculture, we are talking about a company that received all possible certificates and licenses from this state, without checking on whose land the construction took place, whether he pays rent and taxes. So the scale of that occupation, and we’re talking about half a million squares, could not have been done if Mr. Carević did not have tacit or active consent from the very top of the state”, Dejan Milovac from MANS told Radio Free Europe (RFE).
MANS states that the occupation began in 2015.
“Carević registered his farm back in 2016 by reporting to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development his own plots where no production is taking place today, while the entire farm complex was built on occupied state land”, MANS stated.
Carević claims: Obstruction with a political background
MANS’ allegations of illegal construction and occupation are untrue, the President of the Municipality of Budva Marko Carević told RFE, and believes it is an obstruction with a political background.
“I have done everything in accordance with the law, and I am proud of everything I have done in my life, especially of this project which it is at European level, and it is very important for Montenegrin society because it develops rural area”, says Carević, who claims that his facilities were legally built, and that Carinvest, which has been headed by Carević’s son Milan since his appointment as the mayor, has always been on the taxpayer’s whitelist.
Carević states that he collected documentation for the farm from February to December 2015, and that he had problems because there was no planning documentation for rural areas.
“The Ministry of Agriculture allowed this permit to be issued for the rural area, so I received from the Municipality of Kotor to set up a facility for keeping livestock and breeding on my land, and a food processing facility; therefore, it is blatant untruth that I registered the farm on state land”, Carević says, adding that he received the urban-technical conditions for setting up two 500-square-meter facilities, and that he has paid over €11.000 for utility taxes in five years.
‘Silence of the administration’
After registering the farm and facilities on his land, Carević states that he again addressed the Ministry of Agriculture on December 2, 2015, requesting a long-term lease of state property for business expansion and livestock breeding.
“What goes on to this day is that I have not received a response from the Ministry of Agriculture, neither approval nor rejection. And imagine, the Ministry of Agriculture did not send its commission until January 2020. Those are my alleged connection with the government and DPS (Democratic Party of Socialists), when we entered the fifth year without a response”, Carević said.
Carević explains why he thinks the silence of the administration is the legal basis for his construction.
“Fortunately, there are laws, and it is clear in the administrative procedure that if you ask for what I did and you do not receive a response within 30 days, you have automatically obtained consent. That is the silence of the administration. Thus, it is the legal basis on which I started the expansion of agricultural activity and the construction of only livestock breeding facilities”, Carević says, adding that it is not true that he occupied around half a million square meters since, according to him, he asked for ten hectares.
Carević also says he registered the facilities.
“I registered all these facilities with the competent state authority, Real Estate Cadastre, regional unit Kotor”, Carević says, adding that after that he again sought to resolve property relations with the state, i.e. to buy land under the facilities and lease the rest of the parcels.
“I received a written response from the competent authority, the Real Estate Administration, that until a planning document is issued, it is not possible to see if these facilities can stay in the area”, Carević says, who describes that there are five farms, drying plant, cheese-making plant, over 1,200 head of cattle and over 1,200 olive groves.
Appeals of the Protector of Property and Legal Interests
According to MANS Investigative Centre, in November 2018, Carević registered 11 illegally constructed buildings on state land, while in September 2019, he registered two smaller facilities, which he had built in the meantime – auxiliary facility and a power substation.
The Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro appealed to both decisions, but the Ministry of Finance rejected the appeals and registered illegal facilities on the state land, according to MANS.
According to their data, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development paid Carinvest around € 100.000 in the last two years for subsidies for agricultural production and procurement of equipment, although it is farm built on occupied state land and without a building permit.
MANS also adds that the state authorities in charge of managing and keeping records of state property knew about the case for more than a year before MANS published the story, but the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance, the Property Administration, the Real Estate Administration and the Protector of Property and Legal Interests did not notify the police or the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Carević also denies relations with DPS
After the MANS’ story was published, in his interview with RFE, Dejan Milovac expressed doubt that a similar example of occupation could be carried out without the support of the top of Montenegro’s authorities. On the other hand, Carević denies that he has any interest connections with DPS.
“I have no connection with them, I also have a political issue because I am the opposing political option of DPS, and declare myself as Serb by nationality, which is also an aggravating circumstance for me,” says the Mayor of Budva.
“I have done everything in accordance with the law, tax is paid on the site, people are hired, I produce healthy food, so I am sorry MANS obstructs this for political reasons. If someone of other political options and nationalities were doing this, films would be made about it. That is not the case now, and it is a disease of Montenegro”, says Carević, who is an official of the Democratic Front (DF), a national-level opposition party.
DF leads the ruling coalition in Budva, which also includes Democrats, Montenegrin Party and URA. Carević has been the Mayor of Budva since January 2019, as that coalition won 2016 local elections.
What does the Criminal Code stipulate?
After the adoption of the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures in 2018, the process of legalization of facilities in Krimovica began, which, according to Dejan Milovac from MANS, cannot affect the previous actions of their owner.
“What the Criminal Code stipulates, in two articles, is that Mr. Carević committed at least two criminal offenses, one is the occupation of someone else’s land, which we have indisputably proved by this story, and it is a criminal offense for which prison term of up to one year is prescribed. And since in 2008 the Criminal Code criminalized illegal construction, i.e. construction without a building permit, which is also the case here, regardless of the legal status of these facilities, and the future status (whether or not it legalization is ongoing), the State Prosecutor’s Office and the police already now have sufficient evidence and room to prosecute the Mayor of Budva in full capacity”, Milovac said.
We asked Carević if he had been approached by one of the competent authorities after publishing of MANS’s allegations, who responded that he had provided documentation to the Economic Crime Unit of the Municipality of Kotor.
“I invited both the Special and the Basic State Prosecutor’s Offices to come; I obeyed all the laws of this country, and the silence of the administration is not my problem, I did not issue any papers to myself. And how fair the state was, you can see by the fact that I invested my money there in the state property, which is now 100 times more valuable than before”, Carević says.
According to MANS, in February, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development rejected Carević’s request to lease the land on which he built the farms.
Source: Radio Free Europe
