For two previous verdicts issued last year, SMATSA forced compulsion from the Montenegrin national company’s account of EUR 2.5 million. The owners of SMATSA are the state of Serbia with 92 percent and the state of Montenegro with eight percent. Montenegro airlines have been for years one of the biggest debtors, whose total debts are 89 million euros i.e. 40 million more than the company's assets. The total debt for taxes and contributions is EUR 19 million, and for the compensation to Montenegro Airports about EUR 20 million. Traffic Minister Osman Nurkovic recently announced that the fate of a national airline company will soon be solved, and that one serious company is interested in its taking over. He said that in that case, the state would take over the company's debts.
According to the information by "Vijesti" the fund "4K" affiliated with the German Lufthansa is interested in Montenegro airlines, which recently took over the Slovenian Adria. Montenegro's fate must be resolved no later than May next year, when the new concessionaire is expected to take over the Airports of Montenegro. Although Montenegro is a co-owner of the Flight Contros, this company based in Belgrade, Montenegro is airlines consider to be an international company and is thus is being registered in the documents. Total accrued claims of SMATSA from "foreign companies" amounted to EUR 9.6 million, of which 7.6 percent (without interest and other expenses) refer to Montenegro airlines. Although it is a "foreign company", the SMATSA Supervisory Board, when it was chaired by Montenegrin citizen Zoran Radonjić, has enabled the Montenegrin airline company to pay for the debt from the period from 2004 to 2013 in 72 monthly installments from June 2015 until May 2021. In the course of 2015, Montenegro airlines have paid a portion of the 639,000-euro debt but stopped because of which SMATSA filed lawsuits and enforced charges. Despite the unpaid claims of the Montenegrin airline company, SMATSA is a very profitable company. The net profit in 2017 amounted to RSD 695 million, or about EUR 5.8 million. The Assembly of Shareholders, chaired by Montenegro's representative Zoran Kostić, decided that this profit should be added to the unallocated profit so far, which now amounts to RSD 8.3 billion or EUR 70 million. The Montenegrin part of this profit, in line with the percentage of eight percent ownership, is worth 5.6 million euros. Kostic was until a year and a half ago, the director of Montenegro airlines and now adopts reports on forced debts of his former company, of which claims are related to the period of his management.
Montenegrin staff in SMATSA
The Montenegrin staff in SMATSA is Deputy Director Lazo Maksimović, brother in law of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, for whom the Belgrade media say he has a seven-thousand-euro salary. He did not report this salary to the Montenegrin Anti-Corruption Agency, and told the Belgrade media that he did not have that obligation because SMATSA is located in Belgrade. The second representative of the Montenegrin Government is Assistant to the Traffic Minister Zoran Kostić, who is the chairman of the Assembly of SMATSA. He reported that he receives a monthly fee of 690 million euros for this job. Predrag Marković, son of the Prime Minister Duško Marković, as a specialist in economic affairs, works in the Flight control and he reported a salary of 1,900 euros.
Text by Goran Kapor, on October 12th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
