Montenegro Party Files Charges Against Djukanovic, Berlusconi

The Movement for Change, PZP, claims that the two men, along with seven other Montenengrin officials, caused losses to Montenegro totaling hundreds of millions of euros during the partial privatisation of Montenegro's electric power company, EPCG, and Montenengrin Elektroprenos, CGES, a company dealing with electricity distribution.  

The party filed the suit at the state prosecutor's office.

EPCG and CGES form the backbone of Montenegro's energy sector and are of strategic importance for the country, while both were partly acquired by Italian firms over the past two years.

Milan-based A2A won a 2009 tender and took over 40 per cent of the EPCG, while another Italian company, Terna Rete Elettrica, bought a minority package of 22 per cent of shares in CGES last year through direct negotiation and without a public tender.

According to the PzP, these agreements directly influenced the creation of a plan for the energy lobby in Italy to take over Montenegro's energy sector.

Nebojsa Medojevic, the PzP leader, said at a press conference on Tuesday that if the prosecutor does not start pre-trial proceedings, he will invite the public to take part in street protests, evoking the scenes in Egypt over the past several weeks.

"Montenegrin citizens, who pay for electricity at prices higher than anybody else in the region, are invited to support the suit with their signature," he said.

Djukanovic stepped down from his post as prime minister in December after leading the country for almost twenty years.