The estate of the Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić in the village Grbe, the Municipality of Danilovgrad, covers an area of about seven thousand square meters. Over 80% of that property used to be state-owned land that Katnić acquired in the last six years thanks to the decisions of the Government of Montenegro to sell it to him under favourable conditions or below the market price, according to data of the MANS Investigative Centre.
Milivoje Katnić’s estate was expanded in October last year, after his wife concluded a contract with the Property Administration for the purchase of close to 4,000 m2 at a price of around 22 thousand euros, i.e. 5.5 euros per m2. The decision to sell the state plot at this price in instalments over 10 years was made by the Government of Duško Marković in September last year, when it was already in the so-called technical mandate.
However, MANS’ investigation shows that the state plot was sold to Katnić at a price significantly lower than the market price. Namely, a search of available ads shows that private plots in Katnić’s neighbourhood are sold at a price of 13 to as much as 50 euros per square meter, but also that they are usually offered at a price of about 20 euros per square meter, which is four times higher than the price determined by the state in the case of the plot of the Chief Special Prosecutor. MANS’ data show that even in cases of sale of state plots, the price of land was almost twice as high as the one charged to Katnić, i.e. 13 euros per square meter.
The reduced price for Katnić was calculated by the Evaluation Commission, headed by the former director of the cadastre, Dragan Kovačević, who is currently on the run due to accusations of abuse of office and organizing a criminal group.
Family Katnić bought the land from the state after they usurped it by building two auxiliary facilities on it without a building permit. That they did it undisturbed by the state authorities is also shown by the answers that MANS received earlier from the competent inspections, from which it can be seen that they did not deal with this case.
At the same location in 2015, family Katnić bought three plots from the state, with a total area of almost 1,900 m2, the value of which was also estimated by Dragan Kovačević. Kovačević then set the price at 13 euros/1m2, and after a complaint filed by Katnić’s wife, it was lowered to 8.61 euros.
MANS Investigative Centre tried to get a comment from the Chief Special Prosecutor on the price at which his wife bought the plots from the state, as well as the fact that the deal was concluded while the Government was in the so-called technical mandate, but also whether there was communication with the fugitive Kovačević on this issue, but without success.
Lazar Grdinić
Dejan Milovac
Illegal construction of the Special Prosecutor
There is a family house of 126 m2 on the property of Milivoje Katnić, as well as auxiliary facilities of 45 and 99 m2, and now a hydrant of 6 m2 and a dog kennel of 26 m2, which the prosecutor built while the property was state-owned. Danilovgrad Cadastre registered illegal buildings in April 2018, and the only state institution that tried to prevent the usurpation of state property was the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, which initially appealed against the decision of the Danilovgrad Cadastre to register illegal buildings, and later sued the then Ministry of Finance. According to Mrs. Katnić, the facilities were built in 2016, before the new Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures came into force.
On the other hand, Natasa Katnić started the procedure of legalization of the disputed facilities only in 2018, which was foreseen by the amended law, and that was one of the arguments in the almost completed purchase of the usurped land. The property dispute over the registration of illegal buildings in the cadastre is still ongoing, as evidenced by the existence of encumbrances in the real estate sheet for Katnić’s property.
