21.07.2026. 15:51h
The state-owned company “Montenegro Bonus” has filed a lawsuit against the State of Montenegro, demanding that the Government pay it 1,6 million euros, for a debt that dates back to 2013, when this company, by decision of the Government, temporarily managed the bankrupt Aluminum Plant and, among other things, paid its bills for consumed and stolen electricity.
The lawsuit, which “Vijesti” has access to, was submitted to the Basic Court in Podgorica at the end of June.
KAP, which was managed by the government and the offshore company CEAC, which is backed by a Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, was allowed to steal electricity from the European interconnection from February 22 to May 25, 2013, making it the seventh government Milo Đukanović transferred that cost to the state budget. The total stolen electricity was estimated at seven million euros. However, that cost was not paid by KAP and CEAC, but by the state budget and state-owned companies after Montenegro Bonus took over the management of KAP by government decision in July 2013, the day after it went bankrupt.
The government later officially announced that the state-owned Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES), through which KAP received illegally withdrawn electricity, and KAP are the ones paying for the theft, and will settle the debt. It was later acknowledged that Montenegro Bonus mediates in the return of stolen energy, but it was not announced how, or who, actually pays for that energy.
The then Government, whose President was Milo Đukanović, adopted in July 2013 the Information on the situation in the Aluminum Plant after the introduction of bankruptcy and an internal (secret) conclusion that charged “Montenegro Bonus” to sign an agreement on business and technical cooperation with the bankruptcy administration of KAP, as well as to hire a management team that would manage production in this factory. The conclusion also stipulated that Montenegro Bonus would fully take over the management of KAP, finance its costs, and submit to the Government every 15 days a specification of the money spent for the needs of KAP’s work, as well as data on income. In the same conclusion, the Government committed to reimburse Montenegro Bonus for all costs it may incur based on the agreement on business and technical cooperation with the bankruptcy administration of KAP.
By its conclusion, the Government determines that the Regulation on Subsidies for the Employment of Unemployed Persons will apply to KAP employees, and that the state will subsidize the Combine’s electricity bills.
It has never been officially announced or calculated how much the state spent on rescuing KAP through direct and indirect subsidies, while Montenegro Bonus’s audit reports mention that it is claiming damages of around 17 million euros from the bankruptcy administration of KAP and the state that the company had due to its business relationship with the former aluminum factory. Montenegro Bonus managed KAP in bankruptcy from July 9, 2013 to July 19, 2014, when it was taken over by the private company Uniprom. Veselin Pejović, who became its owner the following year.
In the meantime, there are also counterclaims filed by CEAC and the bankruptcy administration of KAP, which claim that the Montenegro bonus during the management of KAP caused damage, i.e. reduced the bankruptcy estate of that bankrupt company.
The electricity bills that KAP used at the time were repeatedly settled between the energy companies CGES, EPCG and Montenegro Bonus, as well as the Government, but the sum has still not been finally settled. By decision of the Government, Montenegro Bonus is responsible for paying electricity bills up to a price of 27 euros per megawatt hour, and that the state will subsidize if that price is higher.
Montenegro Bonus now states in its lawsuit that they had no economic interest in entering into an arrangement with KAP in bankruptcy in 2013, that this business is not its core and registered activity, but that it was forced to do so by a decision of its owner – the Government.
The disputed business cooperation agreement between Montenegro Bonus and KAP was terminated after a year, after which Montenegro Bonus was left with obligations towards suppliers guaranteed by the Government, including an electricity obligation towards another state-owned company, CGES, of 1,4 million euros, which is the basis for this lawsuit.
In the following years, the government continued to make conclusions about the payment of costs for the Montenegro bonus from the period of KAP management, but the payment of this debt was postponed.
As stated in the lawsuit, in 2016, CGES insisted on being paid this debt of 1,42 million euros without further waiting for the Government to implement its conclusion on the payment of costs. In May 2016, Montenegro Bonus and CGES concluded a debt settlement agreement, in which CGES took over Montenegro Bonus’s claim from the Clinical Center of Montenegro in the amount of 400 thousand euros, thereby settling part of the debt.
Vlada Duško Marković In April 2019, the Ministry of Finance issued a conclusion instructing the Ministry of Finance to use part of the profit from state-owned energy companies to settle liabilities, i.e. EPCG was requested to transfer part of its profit of 1,42 million to Montenegro Bonus on behalf of the state’s debt to Montenegro Bonus, which is owed to CGES for the electricity consumed by KAP in bankruptcy,… with the obligation of CGES not to enter into forced collection proceedings against Montenegro Bonus.
However, even the planned debt offsetting between several state-owned energy companies was not completed, and in November 2021, the new Government annulled the conclusion from April 2019.
Montenegro Bonus believes that the Government, in its 2019 conclusion, clearly acknowledged its obligation for this debt, which has since grown to 1,6 million euros, which is why they expect the Court to accept their argument.
The Aluminum Plant ceased aluminum production in May 2023, after 52 years of operation, and retained a small part of the production that deals with the processing and alloying of imported aluminum.
They stole and paid for electricity with the government’s approval to reduce Deripaska’s costs
In a conclusion from November 2013, the government acknowledged that Montenegro Bonus owed CGES another 3,6 million euros due to the theft of electricity for the needs of KAP, and that it should be settled by including this item in the state budget for 2014. In other words, this theft of electricity was paid for with citizens’ money.
Even before it officially took over management of KAP in July 2013, Montenegro Bonus was the intermediary through which KAP purchased electricity. At that time, KAP was managed by CEAC, owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
Helping an oligarch to the detriment of the state and its companies: Deripaskaphoto: Reuters
“Montenegro Bonus also purchases the energy that Kombinat stole, and reports it as a claim against KAP,” the Government informally responded to a question from “Vijesti” in June 2013 about who pays for the electricity that KAP stole from February 23 to May 23 from the European interconnection.
CGES then reiterated to “Vijesti” that they had not spent a single cent on purchasing stolen electricity for KAP, and that they were responsible for the transmission and deadlines for restoring the energy, which had been overlooked several times.
It would be particularly contentious if this happened because KAP was stealing electricity, with the tacit consent of the Government, and the Russian CEAC, which operated it, refused to pay for it, citing that there was no supply contract.
In March 2023, the Parliamentary Committee on Economy held a consultative hearing of the management of Montenegro Bonus, at which it was announced that from the period of management of KAP they had debts to Elektroprivreda of 11,5 million euros, a potential collection of 2,2 million based on the reduction of the bankruptcy estate of KAP in bankruptcy, and a debt to CGES of 1,4 million euros.
It has been pointed out that these debts threaten to push this state-owned company into bankruptcy.
It was also stated that they are claiming 16 million euros from KAP in bankruptcy, which they cannot collect.
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