I WAS ARRESTED BY THE MONTENEGRIN LEADERSHIP

The Epilogue of the Abramovic Scandal

Summary: After a seven-month court trial, the ex-Minister of agriculture in Montenegrin Government, Branko Abramovic, accused of heavy robbery, was acquitted. In an interview for the AIM, Abramovic reveals how he was set up, who is responsible and why it had all happened. - The three men at the top in the Republic decided about my dismissal from the Government - Bulatovic, Vukcevic and Djukanovic. The first two were in favour of my dismissal, and the Prime Minister was against it. Abramovic claims that the ministers of police and trade are the most responsible, because they disregarded all his demands to have the case of reselling chemical fertilizers investigated and to protect the state against robbery. The state attorney was ordered to attack me instead, Abramovic says. Now, the former Minister expects to be rehabilitated by the Prime Minister in the form of an appointment to the post of the Minister of Agriculture again, since this was the decision of the Chairman of the Assembly, Vukcevic, at the time Abramovic was dismissed.

Text:

"After conference and secret voting, in the name of the people, the Court has reached the following verdict: the accused, Branko Abramovic, is free of charges." With these words of the President of the Criminal Tribunal of the Elementary Court in Podgorica, Boro Djukanovic, the seven-month long trial to Branko Abramovic, the former Minister of Agriculture in The Government of Montenegro, was finally recently terminated. Just for the sake of reminding the public, he was first dismissed from the post, and later arrested, in August last year, accused "that he had committed the criminal act of robbery by abuse of office", having, allegedly, caused damage to Montenegro amounting to 33 thousand German marks.

Now that the Court has proclaimed him innocent, Abramovic speaks about the events, what course the "game" had taken, who decided that he should be arrested and why he was sent to jail. First he stresses the names of those who should have sat at the bench for the accused insteda of him - the Minister of Police, Pejakovic, the Minister of Trade, Lalicevic, and the Public Attorney, Susovic.

AIM: After all, do you have a clear picture how your case staretd, what your "mistake" was, and who arrested you?

ABRAMOVIC: The "mistake" was that I insisted on preventing the robbery of the peasants and the state during the distribution of the notorious chemical fertilizers, and that I personally ordered the Ministry of Police and the Market Inspectorate to intervene. Two ministers are directly responsible: Pejakovic and Lalicevic.

AIM: Does it mean that you still insist that Minister of the Police, Pejakovic, should have been in your place?

ABRAMOVIC: Of course, and not he alone, but all those we addressed asking them to prevent robbery. I mean Minister Lalicevic, too, and Public Attorney, Susovic, because he too did nothing.

AIM: From the results of inspection reached by your Ministry, i.e. by Agricultural Inspectorate, it turned out that the biggest portion of unlawful reselling took place in the Social Enterprise "Kooperacija"?

ABRAMOVIC: Exactly. I insisted that the Police go in there and establish who is selling chemical fertilizers to whom over there.

AIM: The business manager of this firm was Dragan Bulatovic, the brother of the President, Momir Bulatovic, at the time. Was he the main reason why the Police did not carry out its duty and that you were the victim, because your accusations could have been interpreted as an attempt to attack the "Big Brother"?

ABRAMOVIC: The Enterprise "Kooperacija" was in charge of the job. Of course, their Business Department followed the prices and purchased fertilizers below its production price on the date of the payment. This means that Montenegro actually made a profit in this deal. But, the Social Enterprise "Kooperacija" did not stick to the protocol for distributing the fertilizers. This means that it is responsible. After all, I have never said that such and such a man was reponsible. Although it might have been interpreted that I have. I have never even given it a thought. It was the duty of state agencies to establish that, in other words, of the Police and the Market Inspection Serbice. But they never did it. In this way, they have protected whoever had done it, and made me pay for it all. Mr. Susovic, the Public Attorney, did his best not to find the real perpetrators and bring them to trial. It was his duty to take action to prevent the robbery in the first place. But, he acted in the wrong direction, in cooperation with the organizers, of course. Without a single proof, the Public Attorney accused me of having allegedly ordered the deal to be carried out through a private firm called "Ekspoars" and of providing the possibility to make a profit for its owner. The Court has now resolutely established that this is not true. It was easy to establish it at the very beginning. But it was not. This means, that it was necessary to behead me and then tell me in the end: sorry, it was a mistake.

AIM: You have once claimed that the middlemen have made a profit of millions of German marks?

ABRAMOVIC: It is not difficult to figure it out. The report of the Agricultural Inspectorate shows how much of the chemical fertilizers was sold secondhand. If the fertilizers cost 610 thousand German marks, and if they were sold at 4, 5, 6 or even 10 times higher price, the calculation is clear. Therefore, by illegal reselling of the fertilizers, someone took milions of marks. It would be very easy to reveal who it was, had there been a wish to do it.

AIM: Obviously, President Bulatovic could get "firsthand" information about the case. How do you interpret the fact that he did nothing to protect you?

ABRAMOVIC: You see, it seems that it was not convenient for someone to have the truth revealed at the time. The whole documentation was available at the time, just as it is now. Everything was available to establish who the guilty party in this business was. But, nothing was done, and why - the answer should be known to the Police and the Market Inspectorate.

AIM: Just before you were arrested, a ferocious campaign in the media against you started. Did you demand that the Government of Montenegro, whose member you were, give its opinion?

ABRAMOVIC: At the session of the Government, I said that an unprecedented hunt after me had started. I asked to be protected by the Government and the Minister of Justice, Filip Vujanovoc. He told me that it would be counter-productive and that I should just continue to work, and that they knew I was clean. He even advised me several times not to take the floor in the Parliament to explain the case. However, I found out pretty soon that the whole campaign went on behind my back. Only Milo Djukanovic found it fit to call me to talk to him, and that very same day, in the evening news, state television publicised that criminal charges were brought against me.

AIM: What did the Prime Minister tell you?

ABRAMOVIC: Well, he told me that he was surprised by the thing layed at my door, that I was satanized, and that he had learnt about it too late. He told me that he was practically presented with a fait accompli, and that the relation of powers when my destiny was voted on was on the side of those who wished the whole affair to end as it did.

AIM: Who made the decision that you shoulde be arrested?

ABRAMOVIC: The very top of the leadership. I was informed that a meeting of the three presidents was held. The President of the state, Bulatovic, the Chairman of the Assembly, Vukcevic, and the Prime Minister, Djukanovic. Only the Prime Minister was against my dismissal from the minister's post. The vote was obviously 2:1. So, you see who decided about me. Everything else was a pure farce.

AIM: When did you find out that criminal charges were brought against you?

ABRAMOVIC: I've already said, the very same day I was at the Prime Minister's. That evening I visited some friends when, suddenly, in the News on TV, it was stated: Abramovic, the plunderer, father's name... I nearly fell off the chair I was sitting on. Both my wife and I nearly went out of our minds. I realized that something unbelievable was happening.

AIM: Then came the session of the Assembly...

ABRAMOVIC: The session of the Assembly was postponed several times. Finally, the issue about me was put on the agenda. I experienced a new shock at the entrance of the building of the Assembly: I was searched for arms. You can see how honest they were - they were afraid I would shoot them.

AIM: What was happening in the Assembly?

ABRAMOVIC: When I took the floor, I tried to explain that I was not guilty, with the aid of copies of various documents I distributed to the deputies. The Chairman, Vukcevic, kept interrupting me saying that everything I was saying stood in the documents. I also asked that a parliamentary group be formed to investigate the case. Then they voted. The deputies of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Serbian Radical Party voted in favour of depriving me of my deputy immunity, and the Liberals and the members of the National Party voted against it. Some deputies of the ruling party left he hall in order to avoid voting, and a deputy of this party, Sabotic, voted in favour, but with a "guilty conscience".

AIM: You were arrested after the session?

ABRAMOVIC: It happened when I was on my way to the investigating judge and to resign my duties. At a crossroad near Danilovgrad, there was a police barricade: police cars and a bus were blocking the roads in all directions. I stopped and the policemen told me that I was arrested. They took me to the investigating judge who sentenced me to a month in jail explaining that my criminal offence was such that, had I remained at liberty, it would have disturbed the citizens!

AIM: After the Court has acquitted you, has any of your party comrades from the Democratic Party of Socialists visited you?

ABRAMOVIC: Noone. Noone from the DPS even called me by phone, least of all visited me. But I intend to write them a letter and tell them everything.

AIM: The TV did not carry the decision of the Court about your acquittal. Did this surprise you?

ABRAMOVIC: This proves that publication of the truth about my case does not suit anyone. You know how that same TV satanized me before I was arrested. At least for the sake of professional honesty, the editors should have carried the news about my acquittal.

AIM: Do you expect the competent authorities to initiate investigation of the case of abuse in connection with the fertilizers?

ABRAMOVIC: Every serious and legal state would have done it a long time ago. I do not believe at all that it will happen, though.

AIM: Do you hope that the Prime Minister will call you to be a member of his Government again?

ABRAMOVIC: It is my legal and moral right to demand that. After all, even at the moment I was released of duty, the Chairman of the Assembly, Risto Vukcevic, said: if Abramovic proves not guilty, he must be given full satisfaction. This satisfaction surely implies the offer of the Minister's post. Therefore, if I was dismissed of the Minister's post with no guilt of mine, one should expect the Prime Minister to call me again to be a member of his Government. It would be a satisfaction both for me and for him. Although I would never accept to work together with ministers such as Pejakovic and Lalicevic again.

Seki RADONCIC