For the purchase of a cottage in Žabljak, Assistant Director of the Police Directorate for Criminal Police Sector, Enis Baković, allocated € 15,000, which is money never reported to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), according to documentation obtained by the MANS Investigative Centre. Although he is the only one listed in the cadastre as the owner, Baković claims that it is a facility purchased with money from several members of his family.
In September 2015, Enis Baković concluded a purchase contract with Jovo Ćetković from Budva and Russian citizen Oleg Pavlov, by which he acquired the ownership of a plot of 267 m2 and a two-storey cottage of 58 m2 in total, as stated in this document. The contract states that Baković already paid the owners the amount of €15 thousand, which was the price of these properties. It is interesting that the notarial record, even the purchase contract itself, do not state in any word the fact that it is an illegally constructed facility and that there is a recorded burden in the real estate folio on that basis.
In the year he purchased this property, Baković did not have a reported savings, and there is no evidence that a loan could have been a source of funds for its purchase. The same applies to the report for the previous year, 2014, when Baković did not report any money that could have been used to buy the cottage in Žabljak.
In response to questions from Vijesti regarding the origin of the money, the Police Directorate said that “it is a family cottage registered on Enis Baković in the real estate cadastre”.
“He participated in the purchase of this facility together with family members. The cottage was purchased for €15,000 and was paid for from the funds of the regular income of members of the Baković family”, the Police Directorate stated.
An insight into the income and property reports submitted by Enis Baković from 2009 to this day shows that it is a single-member household, i.e. that Baković only reported his own income and property in his file, and that there are no other members of his family belonging to his household within the meaning of the Law on Prevention of Corruption.
Assuming that the claim about family assistance is true, Enis Baković had to report the loan he received from them to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption. In addition, it is not clear from Baković’s answers to what extent the family allegedly participated in the purchase of the cottage.
The cottage is registered in the cadastre on his name alone, so it is not possible to determine whether Baković is telling the truth, as in the case of “Rolex” it is not possible to determine whether it was actually purchased from relatives and at what price, or the funds were provided from some sources that Baković did not officially report.
Dejan Milovac (MANS)
Jelena Jovanović (ID Vijesti)
When there is no explanation, there is family assistance
MANS has previously warned that public officials are increasingly using such justifications when there is property in their official reports that cannot be explained by revenues from legal sources. In the same way, the President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, justified around 17 thousand Euros by which he paid off minus on the Atlas Bank credit card, claiming that his son, Blažo Đukanović, did it instead of him.
Similar explanation was given by his still official secretary, Slavoljub Stijepović, who is charged by the State Prosecutor’s Office with money laundering as part of an investigation into the “Envelope” affair. Stijepović justified the acquisition of enormous real estate by his daughter and wife with presents form relatives from abroad and inheritance, although there is no sign of it in official income and property reports. The help of the “wider family” was also crucial for the education of two children of the Vice-President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Branimir Gvozdenović, who thus explained as much as the €300,000 he spent on that.
“The case of Enis Baković is quite specific in relation to the others mentioned, because it is a public official in a position that should not be burdened with any doubts about the legality of acquiring a single Euro, MANS warns.
