Last night, the Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katni\u0107 refused to speak about the details of the Telekom affair and did not explain why the controversial businessman Veselin Barovi\u0107 was not prosecuted in that case. “Dan”, in cooperation with the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS), revealed documents that Katni\u0107 did not wish to comment, which show that Barovi\u0107 negotiated the price of minority shares during the privatization of Telekom, signed by the then Prime Minister, and today’s head of the state, Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
This is a piece of evidence that was presented at the hearing of the director of the Magyar Telekom in the United States, during a trial against three directors conducted by the Federal Court in Manhattan, because four false consulting contracts were made, through which bribes were paid to Montenegrin officials. This is Evidence number 68, which refers to the email containing minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2005 in Podgorica.<\/p>\n
In a deal signed with the U.S. judiciary, Magyar Telekom admits that the controversial four contracts with Fiesta, Sigma, Aktiva and Roli company were made to ensure that Montenegrin government officials will be able to buy shares of minority shareholders in order to have two thirds of shares, which was their condition for the purchase of Montenegro\u2019s Telekom Crna Gora. The document on the hearing, in which representatives of the U.S. judiciary questioned directors, contains, among other things, information on the email sent by Silvije Radi\u0161i\u0107, a consultant of Magyar Telekom, to one of the director on details of the meeting in Podgorica.<\/p>\n
As can be seen from the documents, a secret meeting in Podgorica was attended by Oleg Obradovi\u0107, Veselin Barovi\u0107 from Eurofond, Damjan Hosta (Monte Adria), Tam\u00e1s Morvai, Magyar Telekom representative, as well as Johannes Solich and Silvije Radi\u0161i\u0107 from CA IB. It is a company that provided consulting services to Magyar Telekom in the process of privatization of Telekom Crna Gora.<\/p>\n
In the minutes of that meeting, it is stated that Barovi\u0107 had a significant influence on HLT, Eurofond, Atlas fond and Moneta, which together have 15.4 % of the shares, and that he was able to provide an additional 17%, i.e. he had a significant influence over around 32% of shares of minority shareholders.<\/p>\n
In the minutes of that meeting, Barovi\u0107 and Hosta estimated that minority shareholders would accept a bid of at least \u20ac2.5 per share, but there was a problem because Magyar Telekom had a limited budget for the purchase of minority shares of \u20ac2.2, so the company CA IB – as a consultant – suggested that the Government add \u20ac0.3 per share.<\/p>\n
Obradovi\u0107 then said that this could be done, but that he would have to additionally check with the main decision-makers from the Government.<\/p>\n
After that meeting, another meeting was held on the same day, between Obradovi\u0107 and Kofler, director of a consulting company that advised Magyar Telekom.<\/p>\n
In Item 5 of the minutes from that meeting, it is stated that the Government should pay \u20ac0.3 per share to minority shareholders.<\/p>\n
It turned out that the price of the shares requested by Barovi\u0107 was agreed in the end, as Magyar Telekom nevertheless paid shares of minority shareholders \u20ac2.2 per share, and the government added the missing \u20ac0.3 per share based on the decision signed by then Prime Minister Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
In this way, the Government accepted everything agreed at the secret meeting, and \u0110ukanovi\u0107 signed the decision on March 31, 2005, of which there is a document.<\/p>\n
The Government of Montenegro sold Telekom in 2005, and it was clear even then that it was a very suspicious business. The U.S. authorities soon suspected corruption, so their Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched legal proceedings at the end of 2011. Now it could become clearer why the representatives of Magyar Telekom, using fraudulent consulting contracts as a mask, paid \u20ac7.4 million bribe to Montenegrin officials.<\/p>\n
The Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katni\u0107 said that lawyer Ana \u0110ukanovi\u0107, sister of Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107, was mentioned regarding the affair “Telekom” in the U.S. papers, but refused to say what was stated there. Responding to a question by Nikola Markovi\u0107, the editor of “Dan”, Katni\u0107 said that they had checked the contract in connection with Telekom, connected to Ana \u0110ukanovi\u0107, but that there was nothing disputable about it. However, he did not explain how they came to that conclusion and what was exactly checked. In the TV show “Ukr\u0161tene rije\u010di” Markovi\u0107 reminded that Katni\u0107 recently presented at the press conference a scheme related to the Telekom affair when he pointed out to four contracts that were signed, one of which concerning Sigma, through which the lawyer Ana \u0110ukanovi\u0107 was paid for alleged consulting services to Telekom.<\/p>\n
\u2013 You say that you looked into that and that everything was according to the law. Based on what – Markovi\u0107 asked.<\/p>\n
Katni\u0107 said that they checked it and that all contracting obligations were met.<\/p>\n
Markovi\u0107 then showed the contract between Magyar Telekom and the U.S. judicial institutions, citing something quite different from what Katni\u0107 claims. Markovi\u0107 then read the statement of the Magyar Telekom.<\/p>\n
He added that by this document, Magyar Telekom admits that they concluded fictitious agreement with Sigma, where they provided false data and where services in the amount of 580,000 were not performed, as well as that details regarding Barovi\u0107 and Ana \u0110ukanovi\u0107 are publicly available.<\/p>\n
Answering the question by Markovi\u0107 whether Ana \u0110ukanovi\u0107 is mentioned in files submitted to the Montenegro\u2019s State Prosecutor\u2019s Office from the USA, Katni\u0107 said that they did not determine her criminal responsibility. Markovi\u0107 repeated the question and emphasized that he was only interested in whether the lawyer was mentioned in those papers by name, and the Chief Special Prosecutor confirmed it.<\/p>\n
He continued by saying that he should not talk about the evidence and threatened to leave the show.<\/p>\n
\u2013 I cannot answer the question because I am not allowed to do so according to the law, – Katni\u0107 said, and after a heated discussion between the editor of “Dan” and the Prosecutor, the show was briefly interrupted.<\/p>\n
During the TV show, Markovi\u0107 also asked Katni\u0107 whether he would examine Du\u0161ko Kne\u017eevi\u0107’s affairs with \u0110ukanovi\u0107, if any.<\/p>\n
– We take assumption and examine whether they were any affairs. Why not, we will examine everything \u2013 Katni\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
He claims that he will also examine the agreement on the guarantee of businessmen \u017deljko Mihailovi\u0107 and Du\u0161ko Ban for loan of Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107 with Pirues Bank, indicating that this is an important issue. Katni\u0107 claims that the owner of the Atlas Group caused damage to the state in the amount of 120 million and that the investigation of his business is going into six directions. He believes that Kne\u017eevi\u0107 hired the best lawyers in the UK to protect \u20ac 60 million chased by both the East and the West.<\/p>\n
He announced that an internal auditor of Atlas Bank was arrested because he used the irregularities reports internally, and there were irregularities. He also stated that Kne\u017eevi\u0107 would be arrested in case of issuing a red warrant and, if conditions are met, extradited to Montenegro.<\/p>\n
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Last night, the Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katni\u0107 refused to speak about the details of the Telekom affair and did not explain why the controversial businessman Veselin Barovi\u0107 was not prosecuted in that case. “Dan”, in cooperation with the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS), revealed documents that Katni\u0107 did not wish to comment,<\/p>\n