The data obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre show that the Ministry of Capital Investments (MCI), headed by the Minister Mladen Bojanić, had grounds to terminate the concession agreement with Marko Carević’s company – “Carinvest” back in October last year, which refers to the exploitation of stone from the bearing “Platac” in Grbalj, which did not happen.
Marko Carević and Mladen Bojanić
Today, MANS filed a criminal complaint against Bojanić with the Special State Prosecutor’s Office due to that and suspicion of unlawful granting of the new concession to Carević.
Namely, one of the provisions of the contract with Carević’s company provided that MCI has the right to unilaterally terminate the contract in the event of a change in the ownership share over the company without the prior consent of that ministry.
Carević did just that – he transferred the company to his son Milan Carević, and the MCI confirmed to MANS in February this year that they did not give their consent, but also that they did not initiate the procedure to terminate the contract.
“Bearing in mind that in the 15-year duration of the concession agreement, the company Carinvest LLC settled all its obligations duly and entirely, as well as that the inspection controls repeatedly adopted positive decisions, i.e. that the Concessionaire fully acted in accordance with the concession agreement in terms of excavated quantities, the Ministry of Capital Investments finds that the transfer of ownership of Carnivest from father to son, who is also a long-term executive director of that company, should not be a reason to activate the clause in Article 6, paragraph 1, item d of the Concession Agreement, because that would significantly reduce the revenues of the state budget”, MCI stated at the time.
Instead of terminating the concession agreement, a few days ago, Bojanić signed a decision which allows “Carinvest” to exploit stone at the “Platac” site for another 30 years.
This decision was adopted despite the fact that the entire process of announcing the public call and drafting the concession act was marked by numerous irregularities.
One of the documents within the draft concession act, in the part related to stone reserves at the site in question, states that the calculation of reserves at that site was made on the basis of the Study prepared in 2018 for the needs of Carinvest. Article 18 of the Law on Concessions stipulates that legal or natural persons who provided assistance in drafting a concession act may not participate as bidders in the procedure of granting that concession. Such legal provision itself disqualifies the company “Carinvest” from the further procedure of granting the concession.
Despite that, MCI and Bojanić accepted Carević’s bid as correct, directly violating the mentioned provisions of the law.
MANS has been warning the MCI and the Government of Montenegro for several months that the implementation of the concession procedure for the deposit in question is illegal under such circumstances, bearing in mind that Carinvest has been using the site for 15 years and that the concession act did not state it in any way.
In addition, there are plots and facilities owned by Carević in the area of the site that is given for a thirty-year concession, and the amount of stone that can be excavated annually has increased – from 45,000 to 60,000 m3.
Due to suspicion of abuse of office and negligent work in the service, MANS filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SSPO) against Mladen Bojanić, the Minister of Capital Investments in the Government of Montenegro.
In the criminal report, in addition to examining the allegations, the SSPO was asked to question Marko Carević and his son, as well as Minister Bojanić himself on the circumstances of possible unlawful influence that resulted in violation of laws and regulations.
MANS
