Montenegro Arrests Ex-Officials Suspected of Misusing Gulf Loan

A former head of the Investment Development Fund Zoran Vukcevic, at a presentation in Podgorica. Photo:Government of Montenegro.

Media reported that Vukcevic, an official for the former ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, was arrested on the order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office.

The media also reported that former agriculture, Petar Ivanovic and Budimir Mugosa, had also been detained - and that the Special State Prosecutor will ask parliament to lift Ivanovic's parliamentary immunity so he can be arrested, as he is an MP for the DPS.

Previously, BIRN found that 23 out of the 50 million dollars had been handed out in loans to big companies - and the Abu Dhabi funding failed to kickstart Montenegro's agriculture due to administrative red tape, messy planning and the modest labour capacities of local communities.

Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic hailed the police action on Twitter.

"The arrests of several people began as part of the Abu Dhabi Fund affair, in which the [state] budget was damaged to the value of millions of euros. Among those arrested is the former director of the IRF, Zoran Vukcevic," he said.

"I expect the parliamentary immunity of the main actor in the affair, the former Minister of Agriculture, Petar Ivanovic, to be lifted as soon as possible," he added.

In June 2015, Ivanovic, as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, signed the loan agreement with Mohammed Al Suwaidi, the director-general of the fund, saying the loan would be used to boost agricultural production in the small and largely mountainous country.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 50 million dollars would be repaid over 17 years with a grace period of four years at an interest rate of 2.5 per cent.

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