Latest footage of the MANS Investigative Centre show that the President of the Municipality of Budva, Marko Carević, continued with the usurpation of the state land in Krimovica, but also that new facilities were built in the last few months without a building permit.
On over half a million square meters of usurped state land in the Kotor village Krimovica, there is an agricultural farm of the company “Carinvest”. This company is owned by the president of the Municipality of Budva, Marko Carević.
Carević farm consists of olive groves, as well as more than 10 illegally built facilities for raising various livestock.
Back in February last year, MANS reported the usurpation and illegal construction in Krimovica to the competent prosecutor’s office, after which a case was formed before the State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor.
However, judging by the new footage made by MANS Investigative Centre at the end of last month, that did not stop Carević from continuing the illegal construction and usurpation of state plots in Krimovica.
Namely, the footage shows that, after the investigation against him started, Carević built another business facility of several hundred square meters, as well as a parking lot of nearly 10,000 m2 on the state land.
The footage also show that the President of the Municipality of Budva continued to usurp state plots in order to expand the olive groves, as well as to build new roads on the slopes above the sea.
Usurpation of state property and illegal construction have long been prescribed as criminal offenses by the Criminal Code of Montenegro. The State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor told MANS that it would promptly adopt a decision on last year’s report regarding Carević.
Response of the State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor
In the meantime, the state treats Marko Carević’s farm as a legal business! Data on payments from the state budget published by the Ministry of Finance show that the Ministry of Agriculture in the government of Zdravko Krivokapić continued to pay monthly subsidies to Carević in order to support production on usurped state plots.
Payments from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture
That the support of the new Government to Carević’s farms is not only financial is also shown by the earlier affirmative visits of the Minister of Agriculture, Aleksandar Stijović, and the Minister of Ecology, Urbanism and Spatial Planning, Ratko Mitrović.
Minister of Agriculture Stijović on the “Carinvest” farm
MANS Investigative Centre tried to get a comment from the Minister of Urbanism, Ratko Mitrović, on the new illegal construction of Carević, but received no response. They also have not received a response for the initiative to launch an inspection control in Krimovica, which was sent to Mitrović about ten days ago.
Questions for Miniter Mitrović
The fact that Carević has not yet been prosecuted for the enormous damage to the state budget speaks volumes about the rule of law, while the attitude of the new government towards this issue shows that we are creating a new generation of privileged tycoons close to the authorities, modelled after the previous Government.
It is worrying that, after decades of devastation of the state resources, especially those on the coastline, there is still not enough political will by the new government to stop the selective application of the law.
The questions related to the new illegal construction, sent to Carević’s cabinet, have not been answered.
Dejan Milovac
Investigative Centre
MANS
