Dukanovic to be Jailed after Montenegro Joins NATO
Montenegro, the small Balkan state, is once again the center of attention. Milo Djukanovic has been ruling the country since 1991 as the Prime Minister, the President and the Prime Minister again. He’s often called the last dictator in Europe; corruptionist and mafioso are his other names.
Once Montenegro got its independence from Serbia it was put under soft governance of the U.S. and Western European countries that seemed to freeze the position of pieces on the Montenegrin political chessboard.
However, the situation is about to change. A document reveals that the Montenegrin military representative to NATO, Milo Djukanovic, will be jailed and Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic, the acting Defense Minister, will replace him about a year after the country joins NATO.
Dakovic’s report to the Defense Minister with a note ‘Urgent,’ July 16, 2015 is as follows: “Our reliable source doesn’t exclude that M. Djukanovic will be removed from power and put on trial for corruption and abuse of power about a year after Montenegro’s NATO integration. The acting Defense Minister is a most likely Djukanovic’s successor.”
Is the Prime Minister aware that his political career is ending? Due to his criminal record the only thing left for the Prime Minister is to follow the course dictated by Washington.
In the 1990s Montenegro was a center of crime relating to cigarette smuggling. The Italian prosecution office gathered evidence which was released in a 409 page report of Djukanovic’s guilt. Prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi labeled Milo Djukanovic as a boss of the Montenegrin mafia.
The criminal case against Djukanovic is still open in Italy although Interpol received a request for his detention long ago. Montenegro’s protocol has to coordinate all Djukanovic’s foreign visits with the law enforcement authorities of a receiving country.
Many who tried to expose Djukanovic’s activities were killed. For example, journalist Dusko Jovanovic, the editor-in-chief of Montenegrin newspaper Dan, was killed in front of his office in 2004. Mr. Ivo Pukanic, the editor of Croatian National, was blown up in his car in 2008. Both of them were investigating Djukanovic.
The Southern District of New York held in 2001 that Djukanovic and his sister Ana Kolarevic were involved in a corruption scheme during the privatization of the Montenegrin telecommunication company, Telekom Crne Gore A.D. Djukanovic’s family arranged four fake contracts with Magyar Telecom and received about €7.35 million as a result. During his long tenure Djukanovic and his relatives took control over important economic sectors of Montenegro.
Prime Minister Djukanovic is 100% shareholder of Capital Invest Company that distributes credits from overseas investors. Djukanovic and his compadre Vuko Rajkovic are owners of Global Montenegro Investment Company. Moreover, Djukanovic holds 25% of the stock in Donja Gorica, a private university in Podgorica.
Milo’s wife Lidia and his brother Aco are 100 % shareholders of First Bank of Montenegro (Prva banka Crne Gore) where many government members have multimillion credits.
It’s worth mentioning that Djukanovic core capital worth is about €1.2 billion and these funds are located in U.S. banks. Djukanovic’s nephew, Emin Kolarevic, manages his funds through three special consulting companies.
Djukanovic is the black sheep among NATO member states’ leaders and he is not a welcome guest in the community. But the U.S. strongly supports Milo; he is very loyal and he promises to bring Montenegro into NATO. This is why he has been in power for over 20 years.
It appears that membership in NATO in defiance of the people will be the last corruption-related crime of the man known as Milo Djukanovic.