The company “Asfalt-beton gradnja” from Podgorica continued to use the machines of the company “Carinvest”, which is owned by the president of that municipality, Marko Carević, for performing works in Budva. This is also shown by the latest footage from the recently completed work of asphalting the streets in Budva’s settlement of Pobori, where Carević’s machines are located.
“Carinvest” machines at the Pobori construction site, November 2020
This is just one of as many as 12 contracts that Carević signed with this company since taking over the Municipality of Budva in 2019, in which his company “Carinvest” with mechanization participates as a covert subcontractor.
Asphalting of the local road in Pobori according to the contract concluded by the Municipality of Budva with the company “Asfalt-beton gradnja”
The latest in a series of contracts that Carević concluded earlier this year in this way is worth as much as € 700 thousand, which is the amount that “Asfalt-Beton gradnja” received for the rehabilitation of existing roads in the territory of Budva. Thus, the business of this company with the Municipality of Budva in the last two years, since Carević took over the management, exceeded the amount of € 2.6 million.
Each of these tenders was accompanied by documentation in which Carević and the owner of the company “Asfalt-beton gradnja”, Vladimir Mirković, signed statements on the absence of conflict of interests, while later only the machines of the mayor of Budva performed works on the ground.
In addition, in the official bid of “Asfalt-beton gradnja”, inspected by the MANS Investigative Centre, Mirković presented Carević’s machinery as his own, although official financial data show that the company does not own such valuable equipment. At one of the tenders of the Municipality of Budva, Mirković reported that he owns as many as 40 different machines and trucks with which he plans to perform the contracted works.
Financial data of “Asfalt-beton gradnja” show that the company’s revenues increased significantly after Carević became the President of the Municipality of Budva. Thus, the revenue of that company in 2019 amounted to over € 3.5 million, which is twice as much than in 2018.
Data and photographs from the field obtained earlier by the MANS Investigative Centre show that “Asfalt-beton gradnja” used the mechanization of “Carinvest” for works in other municipalities as well, without reporting that Carević participated as a subcontractor.
MANS warns that Carević has practically made the procurement system in the municipality he manages meaningless, and that in his case it is a textbook example of conflict of interests and violation of the law that has had to be prosecuted so far:
“The President of the Municipality of Budva has an indisputable economic interest in such bid rigging, which is shown by the number of contracts that Carević concluded as a covert subcontractor, but also their value, which is now measured in millions. In any even remotely regulated state, Carević and Mirković would have been held accountable for abuse of official position, falsifying of official documents and violation of the Law on Public Procurement. From everything that has been gathered as evidence so far, what is clear is the conscious agreement whose aim was for the company “Carinvest” to make illegal profits, and that the president of the Municipality of Budva includes his private company in almost every major tender announced by the Municipality of Budva”, Dejan Milovac, director of the MANS Investigative Centre stated.
MANS also points out that in addition to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, which rejected their report against Carević, other competent state institutions have also failed to check the legality of Carević’s business with the company “Asfalt-beton gradnja”. Even half a year after the information about the bid rigging became public, the Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedures, as well as the Public Procurement Administration, have not done anything to investigate these matters.
MANS
Criminal report dismissed without explanation
Special State Prosecutor’s Office rejected the criminal report against Carević filed by MANS. The decision to reject the criminal report does not state the reasons for making such decision, except that “there is no reasonable suspicion that the reported persons committed the criminal offenses in question.” The report was rejected in mid-July, just a month after it was filed, after MANS asked the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office to reconsider such decision.
Milovac emphasizes that in this way, the public does not have full information on what the State Prosecutor’s Office had done to check Carević’s business: “It would be really interesting to find out whether the Special State Prosecutor’s Office examined the cash flows between “Carinvest” and “Asfalt-beton gradnja”, and how much Carević actually earned from jobs in which he was a covert subcontractor. I am quite sure that in that way, they would have a much clearer picture of Carević’s motives for spending money from the budget of the Municipality of Budva.
