We welcome the latest action of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SSPO) in which the director of the Real Estate Administration, Dragan Kovačević, was deprived of liberty, but at the same time, we remind that this institution has very concrete evidence of much more serious crimes, to which MANS has pointed out for years.
MANS has so far filed several criminal charges against Kovačević, which refer to his work as the director of the state cadastre, but also in relation to suspicions of illicit enrichment.
One of the latest criminal charges referred to Kovačević’s participation in evaluation of the state-owned plots in Podgorica, which were sold to the company “Čelebić” without a public tender, and the suspicion that such evaluation caused damage to the state budget. (https://www.mans.co.me/krivicna-prijava-protiv-vise-funkcionera-zbog-prodaje-zemljista-celebicu/ )
Back in 2017, MANS submitted to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office full documentation that testifies to well-founded suspicions that Dragan Kovačević unlawfully acquired enormous property gain, and that for property worth at least € 100,000, there is no evidence of the origin of the money with which it was purchased. (https://www.mans.co.me/nema-dokaza-odakle-najmanje-100-000-eura/ ).
MANS Investigative Centre then revealed that the family Kovačević bought real estate, cars and securities with money that was not officially registered in the property card of the director of the state cadastre. MANS then reported this case to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), but its then director, Sreten Radonjić, found that APC was not competent to act.
Model vozila Mercedes čija kupovina nije prijavljena u imovinskom kartonu
At the beginning of 2019, suspicious purchase of a Mercedes car worth € 21,000 was reported to APC, which was registered to Dragan’s younger son, Vladan Kovačević, and which was not reported in the property card of the cadastre director. This report of MANS was considered only after Radonjić left, and APC recently made a decision that Dragan Kovačević had violated the Law on Prevention of Corruption by hiding the ownership over the mentioned property.
In August 2016, MANS filed a criminal complaint with the State Prosecutor’s Office against Kovačević on suspicion of unlawfully employing 67 people in the state cadastre through temporary service contracts, all during the election year.
Dragan Kovačević was also a member of the Commission for Evaluation of Plots sold by the Capital City Podgorica to Žarko Burić, businessman from Podgorica, where “famous” building next to the hotel “Podgorica” on the coast of Morača is located. Investigation conducted by MANS in 2016 showed that, thanks to Kovačević’s assessment, the Capital City sold the mentioned plots to Burić at a price that was significantly below the market price. (https://www.mans.co.me/buric-zaradio-na-pogresnoj-procjeni-katastra/ ).
In 2014, MANS Investigative Centre investigated in what way Kovačević, during his office as the head of the local cadastre in Bar (2008-2010), enabled his older son, Danko Kovačević, to obtain valuable construction land in that municipality through unlawful land conversion. (https://www.mans.co.me/omogucio-sinu-da-dode-do-vrijedne-gradevinske-parcele/ ).
During his term of office as the head of the cadastre Bar, Kovačević unlawfully registered several residential and commercial buildings, as shown by the MANS’ investigation from 2013. (https://www.mans.co.me/direktor-uprave-za-nekretnine-protivzakonito-uknjizio-vise-stambeno-poslovnih-objekata-u-baru/). Thus, members of the Vujačić family, godparents of a high-ranking DPS official Milan Roćen, but also the convicted former president of the Municipality of Bar, Žarko Pavićević, were among the users of such “service” of Kovačević.
That year, MANS also investigated in what way the Real Estate Administration assigned surveying and cadastre work to persons related to Kovačević, but also to companies in which his family had a share (https://www.mans.co.me/poslove-namjestao-sebi-i-rodbini/ ).Finally, when it comes to what, still unofficially, was the reason for the arrest of Kovačević, the data of the MANS Investigative Centre show that it was a residential building of 254 m2 in the settlement of Bogišići, the Municipality of Tivat. The mentioned facility was registered in the cadastre Tivat to Dragan’s older son, Danko Kovačević, and was built without a building permit. Earlier, MANS received a response from the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism that until the MANS’ report, the competent inspections did not control the mentioned facility, as well as that a request for legalization was submitted to the Municipality of Tivat.
Objekat Danka Kovačevića u Bogišićima
The data available to MANS show that the construction of the facility without a building permit began on a plot bought in 2017 for € 54,000 by the wife of the cadastral director, Milunka Kovačević, who transferred it to her son Danko Kovačević by the end of the year.
Most of the reports, despite the extensive documentation submitted to it, were rejected by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office without a valid explanation, thus, we believe that re-examination of all allegations and evidence should lead to the reopening of these cases.
Bearing in mind Kovačević’s years-long experience at the head of the state cadastre, MANS expects that the investigation against Kovačević will not end with this individual case, but that SSPO will fully investigate all suspicions of corruption and violations of the law related to him.
Dejan Milovac
MANS
