{"id":7843,"date":"2019-11-11T10:08:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T08:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mans.co.me\/en\/?p=7843"},"modified":"2019-11-15T10:09:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T08:09:11","slug":"real-estate-and-audi-paid-e215-thousand-origin-of-money-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mans.co.me\/en\/?p=7843","title":{"rendered":"Real estate and Audi paid \u20ac215 thousand, origin of money unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ljiljana Stijepovi\u0107, wife of Slavoljub Stijepov\u0107, a long-time government official suspected of money laundering, spent over \u20ac 215,000 on the purchase of real estate and vehicles, which are funds not reported in her husband’s property records, MANS Investigative Centre reveals.<\/p>\n

According to the invoice obtained by MANS, in early 2013, Mrs. Stijepovi\u0107 spent almost \u20ac39,000 for luxurious Audi Q3 SUV. In his statement on income and property for that year, Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 reported a new vehicle, but not from where the money to buy it came from.<\/p>\n

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Invoice for Audi Q3<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time of purchase of the car, Stijepovi\u0107 family had no savings, and no loan was reported to justify the purchase of a luxury Audi SUV. Similar situation is with the regular income of the Stijepovi\u0107 family, which in 2013 amounted to around \u20ac20 thousand, only half of the amount they had allocated that year to buy Ljiljana’s Audi.<\/p>\n

When asked about the origin of nearly \u20ac 39,000 for the purchase of Audi, the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107, where Stijepovi\u0107 works as a Secretary General, replied that the vehicle \u201cwas paid in several instalments from the regular family household income”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stijepovi\u0107 family (Ljiljana on the far right end)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stijepovi\u0107’s property record does not contain information on the purchase of the vehicle in instalments, nor on the savings from which it could be financed. We did not receive a response to a request for a more detailed explanation of the purchase of the vehicle in instalments from the Cabinet where Stijepovi\u0107 works.<\/p>\n

That is not the only property of Ljiljana Stijepovi\u0107 that cannot be explained by her family’s officially reported income.<\/p>\n

Namely, Slavoljub and Ljiljana live in a four-bedroom apartment of 121m2<\/sup>, located in the part of Podgorica across Mora\u010da river. Documentation obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre shows that the apartment was paid \u20ac145 thousand. The purchase contract was concluded in 2005, when Ljiljana paid \u20ac50 thousand, while the rest was paid in several instalments until the end of 2008.<\/p>\n

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Purchase agreement for the apartment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the same time, Mrs. Stijepovi\u0107 spent additional \u20ac30,000 on the purchase of two parking spots in the underground garage of the building in which she purchased the aforementioned apartment.<\/p>\n

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Building in which Stijepovi\u0107 family owns real estate<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Official data on the income and assets of Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 show that his family’s total income from 2005 to 2008 was around \u20ac62,000.<\/p>\n

When asked from which funds valuable real estate were purchased, Stijepovi\u0107’s Cabinet replied that Ljiljana Stijepovi\u0107’s apartment was “bought thanks to inheritance”. However, no inheritance or other source of financing for the purchase of these properties was reported in the property records for that period.<\/p>\n

MANS Investigative Centre and “DAN” have repeatedly tried to get a detailed explanation of the origin of \u20ac215,000 paid for real estate and vehicles, but until the publication of this story, we have not received an answer to these questions from Stijepovi\u0107\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n

Lazar Grdini\u0107
MANS Investigative Centre<\/p>\n

“Agency guarantees that Stijepovi\u0107\u2019s property was acquired legally”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of answering concrete questions regarding manner in which the disputed property was acquired, the Cabinet of Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 stated that the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) had never asked him to prove the origin of the property owned by Ljiljana:<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, which obliges him as a public official to submit the Report on his property and income, as well as the property and income of his spouse, Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 duly submitted the Report for each year from the moment of application of this Law,. Accordingly, and pursuant to Articles 23 and 24 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, he duly declared ownership of his spouse’s immovable and movable property, as well as any other obligations under this law. We also using the opportunity to remind you that, in accordance with Article 30 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption verifies the data from the Report by comparing it with the data collected on the property and income of public officials from the authorities and legal entities who have such data.<\/em> The same article specifies that, if the Agency determines in the procedure of verification that the property and income of the public official and persons related to the public official are higher than the real revenues, the public official is obliged, at the request of the Agency, to provide detailed information within 30 days on the grounds of acquiring property and income, which was never the case when it comes to the assets of Mrs. Stijepovi\u0107. Bearing in mind all the above, we are informing you that the wife of Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 provided all the necessary information specified in Articles 23 and 24 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption.”\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

On the other hand, since its establishment, APC has declared itself not competent to handle cases before 2016, which is one of the reasons for not verifying Stijepovi\u0107’s property.<\/p>\n

“Envelope” insufficient for suspension<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slavoljub Stijepovi\u0107 is a long-time state official and distinguished member of DPS. Since February this year, he is suspected for criminal offense of “money laundering through aiding and abetting”, after a video released by businessman Du\u0161ko Kne\u017eevi\u0107 showed Stijepovi\u0107 taking an envelope with \u20ac97,500, suspected of having been spent on DPS\u2019 campaign for the 2016 parliamentary elections. The Special State Prosecutor’s Office recently announced that it expanded its investigation against Stijepovi\u0107, while it was then unofficially confirmed to DAN by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office that there was an investigation of additional \u20ac30,000 that Stijepovi\u0107 had allegedly taken from Kne\u017eevi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Screenshot of the video where Stijepovi\u0107 is taking the envelope <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since January this year, when the “Envelope” affair started, there has been no information that Stijepovi\u0107 was suspended from his job as Secretary General of the President of Montenegro due to a prosecutorial inquiry, and during that time, he regularly appeared at official state ceremonies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ljiljana Stijepovi\u0107, wife of Slavoljub Stijepov\u0107, a long-time government official suspected of money laundering, spent over \u20ac 215,000 on the purchase of real estate and vehicles, which are funds not reported in her husband’s property records, MANS Investigative Centre reveals. According to the invoice obtained by MANS, in early 2013, Mrs. Stijepovi\u0107 spent almost \u20ac39,000<\/p>\n

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