FORMER MIPA LEADER VIOLATED THE LAW: Milos Jovanovic hid company worth more than 800,000 euros

The former head of the former governmental Montenegrin Investment Promotion Agency (MIPA), Milos Jovanovic, in his last asset declaration form from March this year, did not submit all data on his property to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC). According to the data obtained by the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network – LUPA (LOUPE), Jovanović hid from APC that he owns 49% of the Podgorica-based company Savana Acquisition Mountain Black Investment Capital (SAMBIC) s.c., which has assets worth more than 800,000 euros. Moreover, the income he reported until this year is not enough to justify the property, which Jovanović owns today through that company, which activity is the construction of residential and non-residential buildings.

The daily “Vijesti” wrote in April 2015 about Jovanović, who was then the acting director of MIPA. He visited exclusive tourist destinations, such as Saint-Tropez, Las Vegas, and Dubai, although at that time he earned 800 euros a month and had no other income. On some trips, he was accompanied by his friend Blazo Đukanovic, the son of President Milo Djukanovic. In August 2014, Jovanovic published a photo with the younger Đukanović and friends from one of the discos in the fashionable summer resort of Saint Tropez – “Les Caves du Roy”.

A year earlier, he boasted – as “Vijesti” had previously published with photos from Las Vegas, which also showed the luxury hotel “Wynn”. One of his friends commented on the photo: “I really do not know where does he have such a lot of money from”.

“My aunt from the Galapagos left me”, Jovanovic replied. Photos are taken in Moscow, Dubai, Geneva, Canada, etc., where he also rode a helicopter was also published on social networks. Renting a helicopter in Canada costs several thousand dollars.

According to the data of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), from October 2014 to December 2020, Jovanovic earned about 75,000 euros from his salary. Jovanovic has also reported several cash loans over the years. During 2018, two loans of 15,000 euros each. Milos Jovanovic’s brother – Stefan Jovanovic founded the company Investment Vehicle in November 2019, whose activity is the construction of residential and non-residential buildings. In January 2021, Milos Jovanovic became the sole owner of that company and executive director.

In December 2019, the company Savana Acquisition Mountain Black Investment Capital (SAMBIC) AD (s.c.) was founded in Podgorica. The company Investment Vehicle was then registered as the owner of 49 percent of the capital of that company, and 51 percent of the capital of Savana Commercial Retail, which is owned by Savana Holding AB – businessman Veselin Mijač. Shortly after its establishment, Savana Acquisition Mountain Black Investment Capital (SAMBIC) AD started buying real estate in Podgorica and Danilovgrad. According to the data of the Revenue and Customs Administration of Montenegro, SAMBIC AD had a total asset of 810,820 euros at the end of last year. When the percentages are compared, of that amount, about 397,000 euros belong to Jovanovic, who owns 49 percent of the property.

Jovanovic claims that he did not have to report the company Savana Acquisition Mountain Black Investment Capital in his asset declaration form of March this year.

“Given the fact that I am obliged by law to submit an asset declaration form to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, within two years after the termination of public office by March 31, I did it properly this year as well, which is the last one concerning that obligation. Namely, I reported the direct ownership of 100 percent of the shares in the law firm Investment Vehicle Ltd. I also stated in which company I am a director and how much my income is, as requested. I am not obliged to report in which other companies, the legal entity Investment Vehicle Ltd is the owner of the shares. So, everything was done in accordance with the law. For information purposes, stocks are not the same as assets, debts, receivables, etc., so I would not want you to change these on this issue. I am very much looking forward to the future Law on the Origin of Property, which affects all citizens of Montenegro, and if or whenever I am invited by the competent institution on any grounds, I will be happy to respond”, said Jovanovic.

He worked as an advisor to Petar Ivanovic

Before becoming director of the Montenegrin Investment Promotion Agency (MIPA), Jovanovic worked as an adviser to the now-former agriculture minister and current economic adviser to President Petar Ivanovic. According to the asset declaration from March 2016, the former head of MIPA reported that his father Radoslav Jovanović owns a 94-square-meter apartment, a 320-square-meter house, a 560-square-meter building plot, and a 12,000-square-meter pasture owned by Ljiljana Jovanovic, mother of Milos Jovanovis.

ASP: The obligation for the company to report is indisputable

The Action for Social Justice (ASP) said that according to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, a public official is obliged to report all assets and income for himself and household members.

“That is the basic norm that the Law prescribes, and it is an indisputable obligation of a public official to report all assets and all income.  Then this norm is further elaborated by law, by stating individual items of what the official is especially obliged to report, but legally speaking, the exhaustive statement is in the function of clarifying what should be reported, which does not conflict with the basic obligation that the official must report all assets and all income. In the specific case, it is a daughter company, which has property and which is in a certain percentage owned by the holding (parent) company, and which is fully owned by a public official. Therefore, there was an indisputable obligation to report that company as well, either through share ownership or through its assets, and if that was not done, the public official violated the Law on Prevention of Corruption”, the ASP announced.

Balance sheet of company SAMBIC AD

Author: Marko Vesovic