Budva municipality leadership arrested for embezzlement of one million euros

Budva Mayor Lazar Rađenović, former head of the municipality Rajko Kuljača, Prime Minister's advisor Aleksandar Tičić, former deputy mayor of Budva and brother of Svetozar Marović - Dragan Marović, Marović's daughter Milena Marović Bogdanović and several other individuals were arrested early this morning by order of the special prosecutor's office, reports the Patria news agency.  

Budva municipality employee Đorđe Pavlović was also arrested, and according to unofficial information from Podgorica's "Vijesti", those arrested also include Milojka Kovačević, Miodrag Samardžić, Dragica Popović, as well as acting director of the Budva Waterworks Milenko Medigović.

According to unofficial information from Vijesti, the police arrested the leaders and employees of the Budva municipality on suspicion that during the construction of TQ Plaza and the plateau on Jaz beach, they abused their official positions and caused damage to the Budva municipality of several million euros. 

Among those arrested are the signatories of the disputed contracts regarding the construction of TQ Plaza and the plateau on Jaz. Among those arrested are also members of the Commission of the narrower municipal leadership that signed the disputed official note Annex 3 for the construction of the TQ Plaza business center.

The assessment of court experts engaged by the prosecution is that the Budva municipality was directly damaged by 2.1 million euros due to the construction of the plateau on Jaz, and millions of euros in damage were caused by Annex 3 of the contract for TQ Plaza. 

Those arrested will be questioned today before the chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić.