Kne?evi?: The “Envelope” affair is a bone in the throat of Montenegro’s progress towards the EU
A PLUS PORTAL, 14 October 2022
According to the recommendations from the new report of the European Commission, Montenegro cannot progress on its way to the EU until it removes the deficiencies in the fight against corruption and organized crime and accelerates and broadens reforms in the field of the judicial system, especially when it comes to its independence, professionalism and responsibility.?These are mostly suggestions that have been repeated for years. In the reports of the EC for this year and last year, it was noted that progress had been made in the fight against organized crime, but corruption is still a concern, especially at a high level, and it was noted that the affairs are still not resolved.
The EC report reads:?“There are no new developments in the political and judicial monitoring of the alleged misuse of public funds for party-political purposes in 2022 in connection with the “audio recording affair”. The political and judicial follow-up of the case of the alleged election fraud “envelope affair” is still ongoing. In September 2021, after two appeals by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, the Higher Court in Podgorica confirmed the indictment against a former high-ranking official of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) for money laundering”.
As it is known to the Montenegrin public, the President of Atlas Group, Du?ko Kne?evi?, by revealing the “Envelope” affair, where it is clearly seen how the former mayor of Podgorica and DPS official Slavoljub Migo Stijepovi? receives an envelope with one hundred thousand euros before the parliamentary elections in 2016, caused a political earthquake in Montenegro, which greatly influenced the outcome of the parliamentary elections on August 30, 2020, and the overthrow of the government after three decades of rule.
The European Commission made a similar statement in its report for the previous year, 2021:?“It remains to provide a credible, independent and effective institutional response to the so-called “envelope affair.”
Therefore, the “Envelope” affair is a bone in the throat of Montenegro’s progress towards the EU. The “Envelope” affair shocked the Montenegrin public on January 11, 2019, showing the true face of the arrogant government, proving political corruption and racketeering by DPS and Milo ?ukanovi?.
It all started with the arrest of an Atlas Group driver in the autumn of 2017 on charges of alleged “money laundering”, with the pressure of special prosecutor Milivoje Katni? on Du?ko Kne?evi? to admit that the money was intended for the Democratic Front, in order to drag him into political waters and be a witness in the case of a “coup d'état”, which the President of Atlas Group of course categorically refused. By playing a video of Migo Stijepovi? taking the envelope with money for the pre-election campaign, Du?ko Kne?evi? revealed the truth that the money went to the pre-election campaign of Milo ?ukanovi? and DPS and not to the Democratic Front.
Everything that later happened around this affair is a great shame for the Montenegrin justice system. The Montenegrin public was also shocked by how the prosecution conducted the investigation. The Special State Prosecutor’s Office, headed by the Chief Special Prosecutor, Milivoje Katni?, did not request detention for Migo Stijepovi?, nor did it hear Milo ?ukanovi?, and the indictment before the Higher Court barely “passed” only on the third try.
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The main actor of the “Envelope” affair, Stijepovi?, was questioned only 20 days after the appearance of the video, and that in the capacity of a citizen. And, unlike others who were brought to the prosecutor’s office handcuffed and in front of television cameras, the current adviser to President ?ukanovi? had the privilege of coming to the interview through the premises of the Ministry of Justice and leaving unnoticed.?The Special Prosecutor, Milivoje Katni?, had a special explanation for that:
“The Special Prosecutor’s Office does not decide whether anyone will enter through the chimney, through the window or wherever.”
Milan Kne?evi?, one of the leaders of the Democratic Front, in an open letter to Katni?, parodied his selectivity in the application of the law:
“Slavoljub Stijepovi?, born in Ljajkovo, former mayor of Podgorica and current general secretary of the President, suspected of money laundering, not only can he leave Podgorica and Montenegro, but according to your words, he enters the prosecutor’s office through a chimney and leaves like water vapour coming from small coffee cups in the coffee-house.”
The travesty of the trial is a separate story. The Higher Court suspended the criminal proceedings against Stijepovi? twice, but both times the Court of Appeal annulled the decisions and sent them back for a retrial. The Chief Special Prosecutor, Milivoje Katni?, was the central pillar of Slavoljub Stijepovi?’s defence, accusing him of money laundering, not of political corruption and racketeering.
The international judicial community was informed about all this, with evidence that the prosecution and the Higher Court are the extended arms of the octopus controlled by Milo ?ukanovi?. This kind of scandalous court process is incomprehensible for the European Commission, the Foreign Office, and the State Department, as we have seen through the reports of the EC for last year and this year.
Will the time come when the judicial system will be freed from all those who are still preventing justice from taking root in Montenegro? In order to deliver visible and measurable results to the European Union in chapters 23 and 24, decisive steps must be taken towards the final liberation of all institutions in Montenegro. “Montenegro will determine the pace of this work”, it was stated in the EC report, with a reminder that overall progress in European integration depends on the progress in key chapters 23 and 24.
Only when the reforms in the justice system and prosecution have been effectively implemented will Montenegro be able to ensure the elimination of all the shortcomings that the EC report justifiably points to.
PRESS SERVICE OF THE ATLAS GROUP