Zoran Vukcevic
Zoran Vukcevic, former executive director and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the governmental Investment and Development Fund (IRF), used the public funds of that state fund for his private interest, in a way that contradicts the provisions of the former Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest.
This can be concluded on the basis of the IRF documentation, which was inspected by the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network – LUPA (LOUPE).
These are documents from which the new administration has removed the label of secrecy. Namely, on 19 December 2014, the Board of Directors of the governmental Fund made a decision on granting a housing loan of 80,000 euros to the Executive Director of the IRF, Zoran Vukcević. It is a decision signed by Vukcevic himself, as the chairman of the Board of Directors, after he sent a request for the allocation of funds on the same day.
Article 2 of the Law on the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest, which was in force at the time, stated, among other things: “Public official shall discharge the public office in such a manner that he shall not place private interest before public interest and shall not cause the conflict of interests. Conflict of interests exists when private interest of a public official affects or might affect the unbiasedness of the public official in the performance of public office”.
An IRF document from which a security classification has been removed
Official data from the website of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC) show that Vukcevic never reported a loan from the IRF in his asset declaration form, which he received on 19 December 2014. In 2015, he reported three loans in his asset declaration form for 2014. These are a loan of 55,000 euros with a repayment period of 10 years, a loan of 17,000 euros with a repayment period of seven years, and a loan of 80,000 euros with a repayment period of 20 years. Although the amount of one of the reported loans is identical to the amount that Vukcević received as an IRF loan, when comparing all available data, it can be concluded that it is not the same loan or that the data on the IRF loan does not match with the reported data to APC. Namely, the Decision on Granting a Housing Loan to the Board of Directors of the IRF states that this is a loan for which the repayment period is 25 years. Also, the date of the approved IRF loan (19 December 2014) and the one recorded on the APC website (30 November 2014) do not match.
Article 19 of the then Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest, among other things, set forth: “Public official shall give accurate and complete data in the Report”, which in this case the former head of the government fund did not do. When examining Vukcević’s assets before he signed the decision, whereby he received a housing loan of 80,000 euros, it can be seen that he already had property in his name – as many as three apartments and a house. These are two apartments in Podgorica of 89 and 72 square meters, an apartment of 37 square meters in Budva, and a house of 50 square meters in Ljesanska nahija.
Property card of Vukcevic
The Decision on Granting a Housing Loan to Zoran Vukcevic, Ph.D. states: “A housing loan is granted for refinancing housing loans with CKB bank AD Podgorica and Hypo Alpe Adria bank AD Podgorica aimed to address the housing needs of the employee”.
“The loan repayment period is 25 years, including a grace period of two years and an interest rate of 1 percent per annum”, the decision reads. It is added that the loan agreement will be concluded within eight days from the day the decision enters into force and that the loan was approved “appreciating the complexity of the work that Vukcevic performs”.
“The borrower is obliged to submit to the Fund proof of the registered mortgage as well as other means of securing the claim, in accordance with the housing loan agreement, no later than 60 days from the day of concluding the housing loan agreement”, as noted in the decision. It is not known whether Vukcevic complied with the document himself signing the apartment. Data from the Real Estate Administration show that almost five years after the decision to grant a loan of 80,000 euros, on 16 October 2019, the Investment Development Fund (IRF) registered a mortgage on a 74-square-meter apartment, located in Podgorica, owned by Zoran’s daughter Andrea Vukcevic. In response to a journalist’s question, Zoran Vukcević said that “it is not true that the housing loan was not reported to APC”.
“You can see it yourself with the competent body”, said Vukcevic. The additional statement of the journalists that a loan of 80,000 euros was reported, but approved on 30 November 2014, and not a loan from the IRF, which was approved on 19 December 2014, Vukcević commented that: “It is the only housing loan, which I received from the IRF and which is being repaid regularly”. The non-governmental organization Action for Social Justice (ASP) said that, first of all, the disclosure of data from some earlier time is very positive, which have been classified for years, which in this case was done by the new IRF management.
“It is this example that shows that for years there has been a lack of substantial control by the competent Commission for the Control of Conflicts of Interest among Public Officials and that many assets have been “hidden” and never reported. On the other hand, the flow of a long period of time means that many proceedings, which could have been initiated against public officials, are now statute-barred” the APC said in a statement. The former director of the IRF, Zoran Vukcevic, is connected with the affair regarding the loan from the Abu Dhabi Fund (ADMAS Project). He was questioned at the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) a few days ago, after which he was released. According to available information, SDT is allegedly accusing Vukcevic and several other people of abuses in connection with the ADMAS project.
They awarded 21 housing loans since 2013
Based on the Law on Free Access to Information, investigative journalists received data on approved housing loans for employees of the Investment and Development Fund. Since 2013, 21 housing loans with a total value of around 1,030,000 euros have been approved. An annual interest rate of one percent was recorded for all loans. Zoran Vukcevic received the largest individual loan in the amount of EUR 80,000, while the smallest approved loan amount was EUR 15,000. According to the official data of the Tax Administration, the Investment and Development Fund had 76 employees in 2019.
List of employees who received housing loans from the IRF in the period from 2013-2021
Authors: Vladimir Otasevic i Jovo Martinovic
