Implementation of the bankruptcy proceeding in Montenegro is one of the least transparent areas convincingly, that should be significantly improved by the new amendments to the law on bankruptcy, which is the process of making. Only by better legal solution, which will strengthen the control mechanisms of bankruptcy proceeding and 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.
In fact, there are many years of practice of violation of 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 the bankruptcy trustees are selling, to whom and at what price, and whether is carried out any review of the legality in that way conducted bankruptcy proceedings.
Back in April 2011 MANS requested from the Commercial Court in Podgorica complete documentation related to the bankruptcy of the “GP Prvoborac Herceg Novi,” but the Commercial Court forbade access to this 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 the lawsuit to the Administrative Court, which decided in favor of MANS, the Ministry of Justice changed its opinion in October 2011 and ordered to the Commercial Court to submit us the requested documentation. However, to this date the Commercial Court has not fulfilled its legal obligation to provide documentation of the bankruptcy proceeding in the company Prvoborac from Herceg Novi.
It was similar with the bankruptcy documents for the company “Primorka” from Bar, “Gradjevinarstvo Crna Gora AD” from Niksic, and “Solar 80 – Elastik AD” from Podgorica. The bankruptcy documentation for these companies we requested back in November 2012, and the Commercial Court in Podgorica has forbidden approach to us stating that they are secret documents. Following the same pattern, on the filed complaint of MANS the Ministry 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 during 2014 orders to the Commercial Court to provide us the requested information. However, to this date MANS from the Commercial Court did not receive a single information about bankruptcy proceedings in these three companies.
In all these cases, the Commercial Court 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.
In the meantime, the new Law on Free Access to Information Act is adopted, which applies from February 2013, according to which the complaint are not submitted to the Ministry that oversees the work of bodies, but the Agency for protection of personal data and the free access to 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, and this institution continues with a drastic violation of the Law.
In April 2013 from the Commercial Court in Podgorica, based on the new Law on free access to information, we requested information on the bankruptcy proceeding in the company “Koni konfekcija” from Niksic, but the Commercial Court ignored our request. Therefore MANS submitted complaint to 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 the Commercial Court to provide us with the required information. However, to this date the Commercial Court also has not submitted and this documentation.
The situation is similar also with other requirements by which we in 2013 and 2014 sought information on bankruptcy proceedings, that the Commercial Court ignored even after the decision of the Agency which to this institution ordered to give us the requested information. Thus, until this date we 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 Jadran”, “Henkel Rivijera Industrija” from Kotor, “Maestral Inzenjering” from Budva, “Imako” from Bijelo Polje and hotel “Teuta” in Risan.
Practice shows that, regardless of the binding decisions of the Agency, the Ministry of Justice and the Administrative Court, the Commercial Court ignores its obligation to publish information of the bankruptcy proceedings that conducts for years. That is the reason why in the amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy is necessary 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, from the opening of bankruptcy to its completion.
Therefore, once again we invite the Government to extend the public debate on amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy and to conduct consultations with all relevant subjects in society, in order that the transparency issue, and also many other problems related to the implementation of the bankruptcy proceeding, are arranged in such a way as defined in the developed countries of the EU. Otherwise, the only benefit of the amendments to the law will have bankruptcy trustees who got rich during the bankruptcy proceedings, as well as bankruptcy mafia that bought worthy Montenegrin companies for almost nothing, laid off workers in these companies and then sold off the newly acquired assets for millions.
MANS
