Montenegro’s Parliamentary Commission for Monitoring and Control of Privatization Procedures unanimously recommended an urgent meeting of the Council for Privatization and Capital Projects to address HTP Boka, and proposed preventing further sales of its assets if irregularities are established. The commission also urged the council to become actively involved in resolving outstanding issues related to the privatization.
HTP Boka, a hotel and tourism company from Herceg Novi, passed from state ownership to Dragan Brković in 2007 and now operates as Vektra Boka. The commission considered the privatization for a second time in a short period at its 35th session, focusing on its consequences and unresolved matters.
Land payments and investment commitments
The commission asked the council to obtain information and documents to determine whether the company’s land was sold for a real market price. The review covers land under the 2007 contract and its 2011 annex, including property recorded in real estate sheet 502 Topla.
It also asked the council to examine the unfulfilled social programme and the earlier sale of valuable HTP Boka land. Legal adviser to the commission Zdravko Tomić said the proposed measure would stop further asset sales if the council found irregularities.
The council was asked to assess implementation of the investment programme that was a condition of the sale to Brković. That review should establish how much of the programme set out in the contract and accompanying annexes was completed, and whether there are grounds to terminate the contract or activate guarantees, according to the commission’s recommendations.
The commission noted that the contractual restriction on disposing of assets had not been lifted. Its recommendations call for the council to consider that restriction alongside the investment obligations and the requested examination of land compensation.
Property records to be checked
The commission will write to the Real Estate Administration, asking it to compare registered records with the actual ownership status of HTP Boka land on its own initiative. It also requested that the administration register the State of Montenegro as owner of land for which a real market price was not paid during privatization, under the Law on State Survey and Cadastre.
The conclusions took account of earlier commission sessions and recommendations, suggestions from the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, and proposals from interested parties, particularly some HTP Boka and Vektra Boka workers. The Protector had also suggested convening an urgent council meeting.
