Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – The Special State Prosecutor’s Office has opened a case based on the criminal charges filed by Deputy Prime Minister for the Political System, Justice, and Anti-Corruption, Momo Koprivica, against former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, concerning the awarding of a concession for the small hydropower plant Bistrica to the company BB Hidro.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Koprivica submitted the original documentation along with certified copies of Cabinet meeting minutes and conclusions, in line with the request from Special State Prosecutor’s Office.

“In the criminal charges, together with the supporting evidence, Koprivica stated that Milo Djukanovic, by enabling his son Blazo Djukanovic to conclude a concession agreement with the Government he headed, seriously violated Article 14 of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption. This provision, among other things, stipulates that a public authority in which a public official serves cannot conclude a contract with a company or other legal entity in which the official or a related person has a private interest,” a press release reads.

According to the press release, this means the Government, as the executive authority headed by Milo Djukanovic, could not have concluded the disputed concession agreement with BB Hidro, a Podgorica-based company in which his direct family member had a private interest.

“A lawful assessment of this provision makes it possible to comprehensively establish the extent to which the former prime minister, fully aware of his actions, which he intended and consented to, acted contrary to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, specifically the provisions limiting the exercise of public office, thereby abusing his official position against the general public interest,” the press release states.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office argues that this case is an opportunity to put an end to the decades-long practice of impunity for elites who privatized the state, its resources, and its institutions.