The proceedings in the “Aerodromi” case, involving defendant Duško Knežević who stands accused of causing a loss of three million euros to “Aerodromi Crne Gore” alongside Atlas Bank directors Marko Nikolić and Dijana Zečević, resumed at the Higher Court in Podgorica. The hearing featured testimony from witness Vesna Ječmenica, the assistant executive director for finance at PE “Aerodromi Crne Gore”.

Over the course of nearly three hours, the witness addressed whether there was a request from “Aerodrom” for “Atlas Bank” to provide funds totaling three million euros.

She responded to numerous inquiries from the defense attorneys, the court, and the special prosecutor.

The testimony is scheduled to continue on March 11th.

Lawyer Borivoje Đukanović presented an email sent by Milica Ivanović, an employee of “Aerodromi Crne Gore”, to the previously deferred Dijana Zečević, in which she requested the re-deposit of three million euros for another year.

According to Vesna Ječmenica, her testimony to the SDT reflected that this was a poorly worded request by Milica Ivanović. Ječmenica stated that she was Ivanović’s superior, affirming that Ivanović could not have acted without her knowledge.

“Director Danilo Orlandić needed to make a decision. There was no director’s decision regarding the re-termination of funds. Milica Ivanović was not authorized to act independently without the director’s consent. The agreement for the re-termination did not exist, nor did I direct Milica to take such actions. The email in question did not hold relevant significance for me, nor did I interpret it as an acceptance of the re-termination offer. Milica is not authorized to request the re-termination of the deposit,” the witness asserted during the main hearing.

A similar response was provided to a question posed by defense attorney Andijana Razić, representing Knežević.

“Neither Milica nor I had the necessary authorization. As her superior, I found it unclear how Milica was involved in this situation. I did not discuss the email that Milica sent about the re-termination request with Director Orlandić. I informed him of the contract’s expiration on August 11, 2018. I cannot recall whether Orlandić communicated that he would not sign the annex contract for re-termination. Likely, it was verbal. The funds of just over three million euros are currently held in the Central Bank of Montenegro,” she replied.

Attorney Bojana Franović Kovačević, defending the accused Dijana Zečević, inquired if there had been instances in the past where term deposits had been returned without a request from “Aerodrom”.

“In January 2018, ‘Atlas Bank’ returned funds whose contracts had expired without a request from ‘Aerodrom’,” replied Vesna Ječmenica.

Lawyer Franović Kovačević refuted this statement.

“That is incorrect. I possess a copy of her email from January 3, 2018, addressed to Dijana Zečević, referring to a contract that expired. In it, she requests the transfer of funds to the ‘Aerodrom’ account after the contract expiration. This email was also sent to Nikola Vujačić,” Kovačević stated.

Upon being presented with a copy in court, Ječmenica commented.

“I do not dispute the content of the email,” Ječmenica responded.

Judge Nenad Vujanović then remarked: “It seems that the funds were not returned without communicating with ‘Aerodrom’.”

At the start of her testimony, Ječmenica highlighted that the deposit agreement concluded on August 11, 2018, without renewal, and that on the following day, three million euros should have been automatically transferred to “Aerodrom”‘s transaction account, which “Atlas Bank” failed to accomplish.

The Special Prosecutor’s Office has lodged an indictment against former managers of “Atlas Banka”, namely Duško Knežević, Marko Nikolić, and Dijana Zečević, as well as the legal entity “Atlas Banka”. The indictment states that the defendants caused a loss of three million euros to “Aerodromi Crne Gore” and gained an equivalent benefit for “Atlas Banka” by failing to return a deposit of three million euros once the term expired.

As per the Special Prosecutor’s Office, Duško Knežević, the former owner of Atlas Bank, faces accusations of inciting his employees Nikolić and Zečević to misuse their positions in business operations, effectively embezzling funds from JP Aerodrom following the expiration of the deposit term.

Testimonies from the defendants Nikolić and Zečević, along with witnesses Danil Orlandić, Vesna Ječmenica, and Milica Ivanović, provide clear evidence that the term for the deposit in question lapsed on August 11, 2018. The affected company, “Aerodromi Crne Gore”, repeatedly asserted the necessity for the said funds of 3,000,000 euros to be returned to their transaction account post the term’s expiration.

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