Former Ally to Testify in Djukanovic Case

Montenegrin businessman Ratko Knezevic says he is ready to testify in the cigarette smuggling case against another businessman Stanko Subotic who is allegedly involved in the case along with Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

In an interview with broadcaster B92 on Tuesday, Knezevic, who is a former advisor of the prime minister, said he had talked with a Serbian special prosecutor via video link from Zagreb about the tobacco mafia from the region.

“These conversations cannot be used as evidence in the process, but I will be happy to come if the Serbian prosecution calls on me to testify,” the broadcaster quoted Knezevic as saying.

In a series of interviews with journalists, held in August, Knezevic accused Subotic and Djukanovic for various crimes including murder, money laundering, and mentioned them as persons involved in cigarette smuggling.

Knezevic described the cigarette mafia group as "the most powerful mafia organisation in the Balkans in the past century". Referring to the trade, he explicitly referred to Djukanovic as the "cartel boss".

A court in Bari, which is leading the case, announced earlier this month that a decision on possible court proceedings against a group of nationals from Montenegro, Italy and Serbia on their alleged involvement in an international cigarettes smuggling ring will be discussed in January.

The courts Prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi told Podgorica daily Dan that Djukanovic could be tried for his alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling once he leaves politics.

Speaking on potential relations of Subotic and Djukanovic in ordering last year's murder of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, Knezevic told B92 that he "believes that in the end, it will turn out it was Djukanovic and Subotic". Pukanic was known for promoting investigations into corruption and organised crime.

According to Knezevic, the tobacco mafia had offered money to Pukanic: "I know he was offered a lot of money to refrain from publishing many things," Knezevic said.

The Serbian Special Prosecution indicted on 29 October Sreten Jocic (aka Joca Amsterdam) on charges of ordering and organising the murder of Pukanic. The indictment also charged Zeljko Milovanovic and Milenko Kuzmanovic as accomplices.

According to the charges, the indictees killed Pukanic in return for a payment of "at least €1.5 million".