By visiting Marko Carević’s farm in Krimovica, the Minister of Agriculture, Aleksandar Stijović, reaffirmed lawlessness and seizure of the state property as a recipe for illicit enrichment at the expense of Montenegrin citizens.
It is a model that has significantly devastated domestic economy in the past thirty years and completely disrupted the value system on which Montenegrin society is based. After its forming, the current government has publicly committed itself to the fight against the continuation of such practice, promising that the law will be the same for all citizens of Montenegro.
Thus, what is worrying is the fact that for two months since the formation of the government, the competent institutions have been silent about the currently largest usurpation of the state property, as well as the decision for the government’s first public activity to be Stijović’s affirmative visit to Carević’s farm in Krimovica.
The farm in Krimovica, which is referred to as an “extremely well-kept agricultural farm” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, was built on almost half a million square meters of the state land that Carević has been usurping unhindered for years, without any payment or sanction.
In six years, with the support of the previous Ministry of Agriculture, Carević built over 6,000 square meters of office space on the state land without a building permit.
The illegal construction and equipping of the farm is partly financed by subsidies from the Ministry of Agriculture in the amount of over 100,000 euros, of which Minister Stijović, we believe, already has complete documentation.
We also believe that before visiting Krimovica, Minister Stijović knew that the Criminal Code of Montenegro in Article 254 prescribes that anyone who occupies land of another person shall be punished by a fine or a prison term up to one year, while Article 326a provides for a prison term of up to five years for illegal construction.
The fact that Minister Stijović, despite this knowledge, decided to provide public support to Carević and his illegal project in Krimovica in this way, is worrying.
The fact that Stijović is “the first minister to visit Carević’s farm”, as stated by the Ministry of Agriculture, is not commendable, instead, it causes serious concern and opens space for doubt in the impartial application of laws and regulations that the new government, at least formally, promotes as evidence of termination with decades-long practice by DPS.
Thanks to such practice, as an usurper of the state property and illegal constructor, Carević was able to have special meetings in the government behind closed doors during the DPS rule. Even more than two months after the formation of the new government, the public knows almost nothing about these meetings and the agreements reached. Unfortunately, Stijović’s latest visit to Carević’s farm on usurped state land is just a continuation of such a practice.
Public promotion of such projects for which there is very concrete evidence that they are illegal is not a way to restore citizens’ trust in institutions, but on the contrary, it can only result in its further collapse.
Dejan Milovac
MANS
