{"id":4441,"date":"2015-01-21T13:32:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T11:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mans.co.me\/en\/?p=4441"},"modified":"2015-10-20T09:41:05","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T07:41:05","slug":"implementation-of-the-bankruptcy-needs-to-be-improved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mans.co.me\/en\/?p=4441","title":{"rendered":"Implementation of the bankruptcy needs to be improved"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stecaj\"Implementation of the bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0in Montenegro is one of the least transparent areas convincingly, that should be significantly improved by\u00a0the new amendments to the law on bankruptcy, which is the process of making. Only\u00a0by\u00a0better legal solution, which will strengthen the control mechanisms of bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0and its transparency Montenegro can cope with the bankruptcy mafia and ensure that the bankruptcy proceedings are conducted in accordance with the interests of public, and not in accordance with the particular interests of individuals who have only profited in a large number of bankruptcy proceedings in Montenegro.<\/p>\n

In fact, there are many years of practice\u00a0of\u00a0violation\u00a0of the Law on Free Access to Information of the Commercial Court in Podgorica, when it comes to searching for information relating to the implementation of the bankruptcy proceedings, which nobody in this institution never bore any responsibility. Bankruptcy proceedings are conducted in secret, the public is not familiar with what\u00a0the bankruptcy trustees are selling, to whom and at what price, and whether\u00a0is\u00a0carried out any review of the legality\u00a0in that way\u00a0\u00a0conducted\u00a0bankruptcy proceedings.<\/p>\n

Back in April 2011 MANS\u00a0requested from\u00a0the Commercial Court in Podgorica complete documentation related to the bankruptcy of the “GP Prvoborac Herceg Novi,”\u00a0but the\u00a0Commercial Court forbade access\u00a0to\u00a0this information by referring to the fact that the requested documents are secret. Therefore, the MANS appealed to the Ministry of Justice, but this institution has agreed with the position of the court. Only after\u00a0the lawsuit to\u00a0the Administrative Court, which decided in favor of MANS, the Ministry of Justice changed its opinion in October 2011 and ordered to the Commercial Court\u00a0to submit\u00a0us\u00a0the requested documentation. However, to this date\u00a0the Commercial Court has not fulfilled its\u00a0legal obligation to provide documentation of the bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0in the company Prvoborac from Herceg Novi.<\/p>\n

It was similar\u00a0with the\u00a0bankruptcy documents for the company “Primorka”\u00a0from\u00a0Bar, “Gradjevinarstvo Crna Gora\u00a0AD” from Niksic, and “Solar 80 – Elastik\u00a0AD” from Podgorica. The bankruptcy documentation for these companies we requested\u00a0back in November 2012, and the Commercial Court in Podgorica has forbidden\u00a0approach\u00a0to us\u00a0stating that they are\u00a0secret documents. Following the same pattern,\u00a0on the filed complaint of\u00a0MANS\u00a0the\u00a0Ministry of Justice confirmed the position of the Commercial Court, and only after the lawsuit and the decision of the Administrative Court in our favor, the Ministry of Justice changed the official position and\u00a0during\u00a02014\u00a0orders to the Commercial Court\u00a0to provide us the requested information. However, to this date MANS\u00a0from\u00a0the Commercial Court did not receive a single\u00a0information\u00a0about bankruptcy proceedings in these three companies.<\/p>\n

In all these cases, the Commercial\u00a0Court has brutally violated the decision of the Administrative Court and the Ministry of Justice and the Law on Free Access to Information, denying us the right to access information on bankruptcy to which we are entitled under the Law.<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\u00a0the new Law on Free Access to Information Act is adopted, which applies from February 2013, according to which the complaint are\u00a0not submitted to\u00a0the Ministry that oversees the work of bodies, but the Agency for protection of personal data and the free access\u00a0to information, with the aim of providing better implementation of the Law. However, even after the adoption of the new law, the practice of the Commercial Court in Podgorica has not changed,\u00a0and\u00a0this\u00a0institution\u00a0continues\u00a0with a drastic violation of the Law.<\/p>\n

In April 2013\u00a0from\u00a0the Commercial Court in Podgorica,\u00a0based on\u00a0the new Law on free access to information, we requested information on the bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0in the company “Koni\u00a0konfekcija” from Niksic, but the Commercial Court ignored\u00a0our request. Therefore MANS submitted\u00a0complaint\u00a0to the Agency for protection of personal data and the free access to information, which was decided in our favor, and in June 2013 ordered to\u00a0the Commercial Court\u00a0to provide us with the required information. However, to this date\u00a0the Commercial Court\u00a0also\u00a0has not submitted and\u00a0this documentation.<\/p>\n

The situation\u00a0is similar also\u00a0with other requirements by which we\u00a0in 2013 and 2014 sought information on bankruptcy proceedings, that\u00a0the Commercial Court ignored even after the decision of the Agency which\u00a0to\u00a0this institution\u00a0ordered\u00a0to give us the requested information. Thus,\u00a0until this date\u00a0we have not received information about bankruptcy proceedings in companies “Vektra Boka” from Herceg Novi, “Autoprevozno Bojana” from Cetinje, “Transpromet” from Kolasin, “Jadran Perast” from Kotor, “IMK\u00a0Jadran”, “Henkel Rivijera Industrija” from Kotor, “Maestral Inzenjering” from Budva, “Imako” from Bijelo Polje and hotel “Teuta” in Risan.<\/p>\n

Practice shows that, regardless of the binding decisions of the Agency, the Ministry of Justice and the Administrative Court, the Commercial Court ignores\u00a0its obligation to publish information of the bankruptcy proceedings\u00a0that\u00a0conducts\u00a0for years. That is the reason why in the amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy\u00a0is\u00a0necessary to codify a number of provisions that will ensure that information on all bankruptcy proceedings are publicly available to all citizens on the website of the Commercial Court,\u00a0from\u00a0the opening of bankruptcy to its completion.<\/p>\n

Therefore,\u00a0once again we\u00a0invite the Government to extend the public debate on amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy\u00a0and to conduct consultations with all relevant subjects\u00a0in society, in order that\u00a0the transparency issue,\u00a0and\u00a0also many other problems related to the implementation of the bankruptcy proceeding,\u00a0\u00a0are\u00a0arranged in such a way as defined in the developed countries of the EU. Otherwise, the only benefit\u00a0of the amendments to the law will have\u00a0bankruptcy trustees\u00a0who got rich during the bankruptcy proceedings, as well as\u00a0bankruptcy mafia that bought worthy\u00a0Montenegrin companies for almost nothing,\u00a0laid off\u00a0workers in these companies and then sold off the newly acquired assets for millions.<\/p>\n

MANS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Implementation of the bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0in Montenegro is one of the least transparent areas convincingly, that should be significantly improved by\u00a0the new amendments to the law on bankruptcy, which is the process of making. Only\u00a0by\u00a0better legal solution, which will strengthen the control mechanisms of bankruptcy proceeding\u00a0and its transparency Montenegro can cope with the bankruptcy mafia and<\/p>\n

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