CORRUPTION 101: Citing “lack of evidence” Podgorica court frees officers accused of torturing Albanians

Due to lack of evidence, Montenegrin police officers Kalezić Marko, Darko Šekularac, Nenad Scekic, Milorad Mitrovic and Branko Radičković were set free last week by order of the Court of Appeals and released of all charges stemming from their conduct in the “Eagle’s Flight” arrest in 2006. The police officers were accused of using excessive force in the arrests of several Albanian nationals in the Malёsia region, including three American citizens. The arrests followed suspicion that a group of Albanians were planning to destabilize the Montenegrin government by “terrorist” means.


Although international monitoring agencies cited numerous incidents of police brutality during the arrests, the appeals court did not refer to any such evidence in their final conclusions.

Facts that were ignored centered on details that the entire process was marred with inconsistencies and corruption. Immediately following the arrests, Amnesty International reported that the prisoners were subjected to “repeated beatings, including with the intension of forcing a confession, using hands, fists, feet, sticks, and on one occasion a computer cable.” The report went on to assert that “beatings were allegedly conducted by both individual and groups of police officers at the police station, by the antiterrorist police involved in the arrest and by police escorting the men to court” (eye-witness reports named Scekic, Mitrovic and Marko leading the way). Amnesty concluded that “one individual reported that a hood was placed over his head; another that he had a gun held to his head; all were subjected to racist threats on the basis of their Albanian ethnicity” (10/17/06).

In the same vein, the U.S. State Department in a recent Country Report cited the Helsinki Committee of Montenegro that “police had used disproportionate force against some of the arrested persons and their family members during the arrests and subsequent interrogations.” Concurringly, Freedom House reported similar abuses and stated that “the hospitalization of prison inmates after a police raid raised questions of brutality and resulted in a change in prison administration…accusations of political interference and complaints of lengthy judicial processes continued to plague the judicial and prosecutorial systems.”

According to a 2009 Report by USAID (Corruption Assessment: Montenegro), Montenegro’s police system has been criticized with having little independence from judicial and legislative influence. As with many political institutions in Podgorica, corruption continues to be a problem:

- The conflicts of interest law is too limited, the local self-government law is inadequate, and whistleblower protection is insufficient;

- Judges are insufficiently trained;

- Trials take too much time, in part, because the courtrooms are not equipped with, and the judges do not use, any form of court-reporting mechanism;

- Defendants who have insufficient resources to hire their own defense attorneys are given appointed counsel; appointed counsel does not necessarily have any experience or specialized training in criminal defense matters;

- There appears to be little or no communication between prosecutors of the Basic Courts, the police, and building inspectors at the local level;

- Political and economic elites as connected by durable networks based on sharing the benefits of corruption. Corruption is controlled from above with the spoils shared within clans based on family, friendship and regional ties – especially in the banking and construction sectors. They act with perceived impunity – there are few controls to detect and prevent corruption, and there is insignificant enforcement and prosecution of high-level corrupt acts. Corruption is seen as a high reward-low risk activity;

- The leading political party (DPS) has minimal competition, with the opposition parties severely fragmented along ethnic, religious or economic lines and no reasonable possibilities for coalition building;

- Public officials can act with impunity. There are minimal controls and oversight to ensure their accountability and, despite access to information laws, there are sufficient loopholes available to minimize government transparency;

- Weak oversight can be seen in the relatively ineffectual efforts by the criminal justice system to identify, prosecute and sentence corrupt officials, whether they are on the national or local scene;

The Directorate for Anticorruption Initiative (DACI) recently completed a survey research study of the justice sector (2008) where more than one-third of all interviewed parties (1788 respondents) and one quarter of companies had the perception that the judicial system in Montenegro is often or always corrupt.

Contributing to this lack of adequate political will is the minimal nature of political competition in Montenegro. Essentially, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), as the successor to the League of Communists, has served as the ruling party for 60 years. The opposition parties appear to be hopelessly small and fragmented, with few proponents of coalition building. Without political competition from other parties or from the legislature or judiciary, the ruling party feels empowered to wield its authority without need to modify its grip on the spoils of power.

If this corruptive behavior in Montenegro is not overhauled, the paternal relationships between the DPS, judicial and police apparatus’ will continue to function unabridged for many years to come.

Does Skopje need a "Skenderbeg Square"?

The Macedonian government is spending millions to renovate a square in Skopje. Now the mayor of an ethnic Albanian majority municipality wants to construct a competing square across the river. Are things getting out of hand?

By Klaudija Lutovska for Southeast European Times in Skopje -- 08/10/10

Izet Medziti, mayor of the Chair district in Skopje, has an ambitious plan for his predominantly ethnic Albanian municipality. He wants to build a massive new public square honouring the 15th-century hero Skenderbeg.


At 29,000 square metres, it will be larger than the existing Macedonia Square, just across the River Vardar, which bisects the city. Constructing it could cost as much as 50m euros.

Because it would be located on a legally protected national landmark, Skopje's Old Bazaar, a state permit is required. "The Chair municipality has not asked for such a permit," Culture Minister Elizabeta Kancevska-Milevska told SETimes.

Nevertheless, the government has allocated an estimated 356,000 euros to draw up an architectural plan.

Albanian intellectuals seem divided over the issue. Many question the need and cost, saying it is a costly example of urban planning being used for political ends.

Others argue the new square will reflect Skopje's multiethnic reality -- something they say the government's "Skopje 2014" project, aimed at renovating Macedonia Square, failed to do.

"Is the square necessary at a time when the citizens have many more urgent needs?" asks journalist Nazim Rashidi, summing up the reaction of many.

Dzabir Dervala of the NGO "Civil" describes the plans as "megalomanic" and "on par with the other party across the bridge". Both, he says, are unproductive.

"From a political aspect," Dervala said, "the square is a reflection of what is happening in the country and is arrogantly forced by the governing elements [upon the citizens]."

Politicians, he says, would do better to propose infrastructure projects that "deal with poverty and address security challenges".

Monumental works can be a positive thing in normal circumstances, writes analyst Alber Musliu, but not in a time of economic crisis. The rush to propose competing squares is like "creating feuds", he suggests.

Sociologist Hasan Jashari, however, believes the new square will help ease interethnic tensions, though at a steep cost. "It is a compromise solution by the coalition partners to achieve peace in house. It is not a product of the real needs of the population, keeping in mind the essential problems of the citizens with regard to food, health care, education and housing," Jashari said.

Analyst Artan Sadiku disagrees. "The suggestion to build a square around the Skenderbeg statue is being exploited by [the Democratic Union of Integration party] to fulfil its party goals, as well as to stir up ethnic tensions in Macedonia," said Sadiku.

By naming this project "Skenderbeg", DUI is trying to position itself to Albanians as a history maker in its competition with its coalition partner, VMRO. "In order to stay in power, the parties use the same methods to create a nationalist fetish through which the state budget is spent on construction," he said.

Others, like Union of Albanian Intellectuals Avzi Mustafa and journalist Daut Dauti, are enthusiastic. They argue the project is well thought out and links the modern and the traditional.

It will also allow easier access and freer communication between Skopje's two parts bisected by the Vardar, they say. After all, "this space belongs to us all," Dauti concludes.

________________________________________________________________
 
Ka nevojë Shkupi për një "Shesh Skënderbeg"?
 
Izet Mexhiti, kryebashkiaku i lagjes Çair në Shkup, ka një plan ambicioz për komunën e tij me mbizotërim etnik shqiptar. Ai do që të ndërtojë një shesh të ri masiv publik për të nderuar heroin e shekullit të 15-të, Skënderbeun.


Me 29,000 metra katrore, ai do të jetë më i madh se Sheshi i Maqedonisë, vetëm përtej lumit Vardar, që ndan qytetin. Ndërtimi i tij mund të kushtonte deri në 50 milion euro.

Për shkak se ai do të vendosej në një vend kombëtar të mbrojtur me ligj, Pazarin e Vjetër të Shkupit, kërkohet një leje shtetërore. "Bashkia e Çairit nuk ka kërkuar për një leje të tillë," i tha SETimes ministrja e kulturës Elizabeta Kançevska-Milevska.

Megjithatë, qeveria ka ndarë rreth 356,000 euro për të hartuar një plan arkitekturor.

Intelektualët shqiptarë duken të ndarë lidhur me çështjen. Shumë vënë në pikpyetje nevojën dhe koston, duke thënë se është një shembull i kushtueshëm i planifikimit urban që po përdoret për qëllime politike.

Të tjerë argumentojnë se sheshi i ri do të pasqyrojë realitetin multietnik të Shkupit, diçka që siç thonë ata, projekti i qeverisë "Shkupi 2014" që kishte për qëllim rinovimin e Sheshit Maqedonia, dështoi ta bënte.

"Është sheshi një domosdoshmëri në një kohë kur qytetarët kanë nevoja shumë më urgjente?" pyet gazetari Nazim Rashidi, duke përmbledhur reagimin e shumë vetëve.

Xhabir Dervala i OJQ-së "Civil" i përshkruan planet si "megallomane" dhe baraz me palën tjetër përtej urës". Të dyja, thotë ai, janë jofrutdhënëse.

"Nga një aspekt politik," tha Dervala, "sheshi është një pasqyrim i asaj që ndodh në vend dhe është detyruar me arrogancë nga elementë qeverisës [mbi qytetarët]."

Politikanët, thotë ai, do të bënin më mirë të propozonin projekte infrastrukture që "të merreshin me varfërinë dhe t'i drejtoheshin sfidave të sigurisë".

Veprat monumentale mund të jenë një gjë pozitive në rrethana normale, shkruan analisti Alber Musliu, por jo në kohë krizash ekonomike. Nxitimi për të propozuar sheshe konkurruese është si "të krijosh hasmëri", sugjeron ai.

Sociologu Hasan Jashari, megjithatë beson se sheshi i ri do të ndihmojë të zbuten tensionet ndëretnike, ndonse me një kosto të lartë. "Është një zgjidhje kompromisi nga partnerët e koalicionit për të arritur paqen në vend. Nuk është produkt i nevojave reale të popullsisë, që ka parasysh problemet thelbësore të shtetasve lidhur me ushqimin, kujdesin shëndetësor, arsimin dhe strehimin," tha Jashari.

Analisti Artan Sadiku nuk është dakord. "Sugjerimi për të ndërtuar një shesh rreth statujës së Skënderbeut është shfrytëzuar nga [partia e Bashkimit Demokratik për Integrimin] për të përmbushur qëlimet e partisë si dhe për të nxitur tensionet etnike në Maqedoni," tha Sadiku.


Duke e qujtur këtë projekt "Skënderbeg", BDI po përpiqet ta vërë veten ndaj shqiptarëve si historibërëse në konkurrim me partneren e saj të koalicionit VMRO. "Me qëllim që të qëndrojë në pushtet, partitë përdorin të njëjtat metoda për të krijuar një fetish nacionalist nëpërmjet të cilit shpenzohet për ndërtimin buxheti i shtetit," tha ai.

Të tjerë si Avzi Mustafa i Bashkimit të Intelektualëve Shqiptarë dhe gazetari Daut Dauti, janë entusiastë. Ata argumentojnë se projekti është i menduar mirë dhe lidh modernen me tradicionalen.

Ai do të kejojë gjithashtu akses më të kollajtë dhe komunikim më të lirë midis të dy pjesëve të Shkupit të ndara nga Vardari, thonë ata. Gjithasesi, "kjo hapësirë na takon e gjitha ne," përfundon Dauti.

EU Waits for Milosević's last Disciple to leave ...

BRUSSELS, 09/29/2010 -- Parliament's president Jerzy Buzek has warned that Montenegro still has to allay serious concerns over reform of its judicial system before it can be considered suitable for EU membership.

The Polish MEP was speaking after a meeting in parliament on Tuesday with Ranko Krivokapic, speaker of the Montenegrin parliament.

The Balkan country has not yet formally been recognised as an official EU candidate, nor have accession negotiations started.

However, it is expected to gain such status next spring although some believe that could be conditional upon the early departure of Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

Major EU capitals have signalled the country's path towards the EU might be easier without the veteran leader.

Addressing journalists after his meeting, Buzek tried to tread a fine diplomatic line by both praising Montenegro's EU integration efforts while at the same time warning that it still needs to do a lot in tackling organised crime, corruption and strengthening its administration and judicial reform.

Buzek said, "Our cooperation has been strengthened. I welcome the overall reform progress of Montenegro. In this regard, cross-party support is essential.

"I hope that the commission will give a positive opinion with a view to granting candidate country status to Montenegro in November.

"More work needs to be done. This includes strengthening public administration, the fight against corruption and organised crime as well as reform of the justice system.

"Regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations are crucial for the future of the Western Balkans. I am very pleased to hear that bilateral relations between Montenegro and its neighbours are very good."

Krivokapic was in parliament to discuss the status of EU-Montenegro relations.

On Tuesday, he attended the first meeting of the stabilisation and association parliamentary committee between the European parliament and the Montenegrin parliament

By Martin Banks - 29th September 2010

Fatmir Sejdiu resigns as Kosova's president

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu resigned on Monday, potentially destabilizing the fragile political scene before talks with Belgrade which still refuses to recognize the former Serbian province's independence.

Sejdiu bowed to a constitutional court ruling last week that he may not serve simultaneously as the largely ceremonial head of state and as leader of his political party, which is junior partner in the coalition government.

"I respect the constitutional court decision," Sejdiu told a news conference in announcing his resignation as president, who is elected by parliament. "Over these years I have worked so that the Republic of Kosovo would have democratic institutions."

A 58-year-old former law professor, Sejdiu was elected president for the second time in 2008 but remained at the helm of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the second largest party which is part of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's government.

The resignation highlights the growing pains of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, although Belgrade lost control of its province nine years earlier.

In a major policy change, Serbia said earlier this month it would negotiate with Kosovo on practical issues for the country of two million which it does not recognize diplomatically.

Ilir Deda, executive director of the Kosovo think tank KIPRED, said Sejdiu's resignation was problematic for the negotiations which are expected to start next month.

"Kosovo cannot have talks with Belgrade with incomplete institutions amid a vacant presidency and politically weakened government," he said.

In July, in a blow to the impoverished country's image as it tries to attract international investment, authorities jailed the central bank governor in a corruption investigation.

Last Friday, the constitutional court ruled that Sejdiu committed "a serious violation" by serving as both president of Kosovo and leader of a political party. The ruling had been widely expected as the constitution bars the president from holding any political party functions.

Sejdiu was elected president in 2006 to replace Ibrahim Rugova who died of lung cancer.

Sejdiu helped to draft laws in Kosovo after the 1998-99 war when NATO waged a bombing campaign to halt killings of ethnic Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war with Serb forces. He was also the head of Kosovo delegation during status talks with Serbia when Kosovo declared independence.

The parliament has 60 days in which to appoint a successor.

(Editing by Adam Tanner/David Stamp)

President of Albania, Bamir Topi celebrates his first visit to Michigan with Albanian Community

HARPER WOODS, MICHIGAN, September 22, 2010 -- The President of the Republic of Albania, Bamir Topi and his wife Teuta, visited the Albanian-American Community of Michigan today making two historic stops at the Albanian Islamic Center and St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church.

President Topi and his wife were accompanied by the Ambassador of Albania, Deputy Speaker of Kosova's Parliament, and the General Consul of Albania in the U.S. 

The president's first stop was at the Albanian Islamic Center of Harper Woods, where he was received by the Center's Imam, Shuaip Gerguri.  Topi thanked the attendees for their support of Albania's domestic and foreign initiatives along with the hospitality they expressed.  There was a brief question and answer session that followed.   

The President then visited St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church and Community Center in Rochester Hills, where he respectfully honored two of Albania's most notable figures, Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu and Mother Teresa.

As the crowd chanted the president's name, Topi expressed his gratitude by walking over to the crowd and shaking hands while thanking them for their warm welcome.

St. Paul's congressional leader, Father Anton Kqira escorted the president into the center's library for coffee and a short discussion.  Father Anton presented the president with a gift and thanked him for his generous visit to our community.

Thereafter, the president was honored in the banquet hall of St. Paul's where guests of honor accompanied him to the stage.  Those seated beside the president and his wife included Congressman Gary Peters, Mayor of Rochester Hills Brian Barnett, Ambassador of Albania Aleksander Sallabanda, Honorable Consul of Albania Ekrem Bardha, and Deputy Speaker of Kosova's Parliament Naim Maloku.

The Masters of ceremonies were Viktor Ivezaj and Nevruz Nazarko.

The ceremony commenced before a capacity crown of approximately 700 guests, including visitors from as far as Toronto, New York and Illinois.  Numerous media outlets were also present to record this historic visit.

The honored guests gave a brief statement related to the president's visit and shared their gratitude and delight with the opportunity to showcase their state and venue to Albania's head of state.  Both Congressman Peters and Mayor Barnett thanked the president for his support of the United States and remarked that the U.S. Congress and the City of Rochester Hills will remain strong advocates for Albania's development and proliferation alongside western Europe.

The president acknowledged those present and marveled at the size and scope of St. Paul's Community Center, referring to it as a "Grand Cathedral."  Topi congratulated the Albanian community of Michigan on their success and hospitality, and especially thanked the United States for their steadfast support of Albania.  Mr. Topi also honored this day Mother Teresa as we continue to celebrate her 100th anniversary by asserting that, "she is a true icon of the Albanian people and a saint among all of us."

After the ceremony, the president was joined by nearly 150 invited guests for a presidential luncheon at Fortesa Restaurant in downtown Rochester.  Topi fielded questions by the guests and enjoyed several laughs as his visit winded down.

The reception of President Topi was without question a successful event by all accounts; the president and his wife were humbled by the reception they received during their first visit to Michigan. 

We welcome the president and his family to visit our great community again in the very near future! 

Albanian President to visit Michigan Community

September 19, 2010, Rochester Hills, Michigan USA -- The President of the Republic of Albania, Bamir Topi, is scheduled to visit the Albanian-American Community of greater Detroit for the first time on Wednesday, September 22nd. Topi's visit will be highlighted by a public event at St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church as he will place wreathes besides the statues of the immortal Gjergj Kastriot Skenderbeu and Nene Tereza.

The event is scheduled to commence at 11:00 a.m. where the President will speak in front of Skenderbeu's statue. He will be joined by his family, the Albanian Ambassador and numerous other public officials.

PRESS RELEASE

DETROIT, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, the President of the Republic of Albania, his Excellency Mr. Bamir Topi, will be visiting the significant Albanian-American community in the Detroit Metropolitan area, estimated at 150,000. This is the first visit of President Topi to Michigan, who will be accompanied by his wife, two daughters and advisors. The days' program will begin by visiting the Mother Teresa statue at St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church in Rochester Hills. A ceremony will take place to honor, celebrate and remember the ethnic Albanian, Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhi, known to the world as Mother Teresa, on the 100th Anniversary of her birth. The President will also visit the Skenderbeg monument at the Church. Skenderbeg is the Albanian National Hero.


Following this ceremony there will be a luncheon at the Fortesa Restaurant in Rochester, where Albanian Religious and community leaders as well as special guests such as the Mayors of Detroit, Rochester and Rochester Hills will be present. The President of Albania will be giving four Presidential decorations to outstanding individuals who have served the Albanian people and humanity. Each are religious leaders: two Catholic priests, two Islamic Imams. This underlines Albania's proud tradition of religious tolerance and harmony.

President Bamir Topi is a member of the Democratic Party of Albania formed just after the fall of the strict communist regime in Albania in 1991. Topi has been distinguished and widely hailed as a politician of a moderated profile, as active in resolving the crisis between the ruling majority and opposition and as a protagonist of political agreements and various parliamentary initiatives.

-Mother Teresa and Skenderbeg monuments ceremony: 11:00 am- The St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church located at 525 West Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, MI

-Luncheon 1:00 pm at the recently opened, beautiful Fortesa Restaurant is located at: 543 N. Main Street, Rochester, MI

Excess and corruption keeping Montenegro afloat

TIVAT, Montenegro — “This is better than St. Tropez,” Milo Djukanovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, exclaimed as he took in a display of yachts berthed in this mountain-shrouded bay on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.

Hardly. But if Mr. Djukanovic and a group of foreign businessmen supporting him have their way, the port of Tivat, now just 20 percent complete, could become a new playground for the super-rich and the centerpiece of tiny Montenegro’s audacious effort to clean up its image of corruption and gain entry to the European Union.

As part of the plan to lure investors from around the globe, Mr. Djukanovic, who is also chairman of Montenegro’s investment promotion agency, said last week that any person willing to invest 500,000 euros or more could become a citizen of Montenegro.

In 2009, the prime minister invited Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed former prime minister of Thailand who faces jail for his conviction on corruption charges in his native country, to make his home here.

Meanwhile, the billionaire who dreamed up the idea of transforming this former Yugoslav navy base into the new Monaco could not be happier. Seated behind Mr. Djukanovic (pronounced ju-KAHN-oh-vitch) as he sped through the marina in a golf cart was Peter Munk, the 82-year-old Canadian gold magnate who is the lead investor in the 200-million-euro ($256 million) Porto Montenegro project.

No doubt about it: Montenegro is open for business.

“This is not a place for mediocre investment projects,” Mr. Djukanovic, speaking in Montenegrin, told a Champagne-sipping crowd of business and political leaders, along with their wives and girlfriends, at a ceremony Saturday night to celebrate the completion of the first major phase of construction in the port project.

“Montenegro,” he said, “will become one of the most elite tourist destinations in the world.”

Montenegro, with a population of about 670,000, is a country roughly the size of Connecticut that achieved independence only in 2006. With its boundless mountains that drop straight into the Adriatic, Montenegro is, as Lord Byron once declared, very much the “most beautiful merging of land and sea.”

But Mr. Djukanovic’s ambitious plan to leverage these stunning natural assets to attract foreign investment has drawn plenty of criticism.

“This country is for sale,” said Vanja Calovic, who leads Mans, a corruption watchdog affiliated with Transparency International. “Montenegro is selling everything it has, and I am just not sure what the country is getting out of all this.”

There is no question that the Djukanovic government is investment-friendly.

The corporate and income tax rates of 9 percent are among the lowest in Europe. And in a bid to pave the way for the Tivat project, Parliament cut the VAT tax for port-related items to 7 percent from 17 percent — a move that drew a rebuke from the European Commission as being anticompetitive.

Its largest company, KAP, an aluminum factory that produces about half of the country’s exports, was sold to the billionaire Russian investor Oleg Deripaska — himself a minority investor in Porto Montenegro — in a 2005 deal that remains controversial.

The government’s supporters say that in a competitive investment world, small countries like Montenegro need to pull out all the stops to attract foreign capital.

But many say that Mr. Djukanovic’s pell-mell salesmanship is itself a reflection of an unseemly mix of business and politics here that highlights the potential for corruption and shady dealings.

Mr. Djukanovic, for example, has a 2.8 percent stake in First Bank, the country’s second-largest bank. His brother, Aco, has a 46 percent position.

The bank was saved from collapse in 2008 by an emergency government loan of 44 million euros. It was the only bank in Montenegro to require such a rescue.

Many of the bank’s aggressive lending practices were called into question, not just by outside watchdogs but also by Montenegro’s own central bank.

Mr. Djukanovic’s pay, public records show, is only 1,256 euros a month, but critics have long claimed that the prime minister and other parliamentarians supplement their low salaries via a web of outside business interests. In 2006, when Mr. Djukanovic stepped down temporarily as prime minister but remained in Parliament, he started a real estate investment company, though he no longer manages its business affairs.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister said that Mr. Djukanovic “was indeed involved in private business after he stepped down, but now that he is the prime minister again, he is completely committed to his public role and has suspended all his business activities and relinquished his managerial powers.”

Mr. Djukanovic, 48, is a crafty political survivor of the breakup of Yugoslavia who steered Montenegro to independence after years of aligning himself with Serbia and its former president, Slobodan Milosevic.

A forceful physical presence at 6 feet 3, Mr. Djukanovic has a viselike grip on this place dating to 1991, long before it was an independent country. He has been in one top position or another for most of that time and is serving his sixth term as prime minister.

The Montenegrin government has also attracted criticism for allowing controversial figures like Stanko Subotic, a Serbian who faces tobacco smuggling charges in his home country, to conduct business openly here. (Mr. Subotic denies the claim.)

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Mr. Djukanovic admitted to being involved in running a cigarette trading company in the 1990s, during the war that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, but he has persistently denied charges of any illegality.

Italian prosecutors in Naples issued an order for his arrest in 2005, accusing him of being at the center of a conspiracy by Montenegrin officials and the Italian Mafia to smuggle huge quantities of cigarettes. The charges were eventually dropped after Montenegro became independent from Serbia and Italian courts granted Mr. Djukanovic diplomatic immunity.

In its 2009 report on Montenegro’s status for entry to the European Union, the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, said, “corruption remains prevalent in many areas and continues to be a serious problem.”

Igor Luksic, the deputy prime minister, said the government had made progress in its fight against corruption and that it had recently adopted an action plan in a bid to address E.U. concerns.

And government officials say that the new applicants under the citizenship program will be thoroughly vetted by outsiders like Kroll, the risk consulting company.

Mr. Munk — who immigrated to Canada from Hungary in the 1940s and now controls Barrick Gold, the largest gold mining company in the world — said that Mr. Djukanovic, whatever his past activities, had done nothing wrong in his current dealings.

Mr. Munk hailed the port project as “transformational” for Montenegro when it was his turn to address the audience here. He then turned to Mr. Djukanovic: “None of this would have been possible,” he said, “without the prime minister and his cabinet, who have acted with the utmost integrity, honesty and supreme credibility.”

In a subsequent interview aboard his yacht, Mr. Munk said that in the five years he had worked with the Djukanovic government he had observed no improprieties.

“Not once have any of us been approached for anything,” he said. (Other members of the investment consortium include the entrepreneur Nathaniel Rothschild and Bernard Arnault, the French business executive who founded the luxury-goods conglomerate LMVH.)

In a brief interview, Mr. Djukanovic said the government would take extra care to insure that foreign investors “would be of the same quality as Mr. Munk.”

With its palm trees, yacht-filled quay and newly completed row of tasteful apartments and shops, Porto Montenegro has all the hallmarks of an understated but classy marina.

What Tivat lacks — but perhaps not for long — is the brassy flavor that has come to define some of the more popular European ports of call. This sleepy town has none of the high-end casinos, over-the-top nightclubs and multistar restaurants that lure pleasure-seeking oligarchs and sheiks in places like Portofino and Porto Cervo in Italy.

There is also a dearth of hotel rooms. And while Mr. Munk and his team say that a number of boutique hotels have expressed interest, the Four Seasons group recently backed out of the Porto Montenegro project.

Despite the red carpet rolled out for wealthy foreigners, Montenegro is not an easy place to make money. Besides the risks associated with most emerging markets in Europe, the country can give investors pause because of its small size and tight group of insiders.

Another investment vehicle in which Mr. Munk has a stake, TriGranit, had to cancel a development project in the capital city of Podgorica.

And earlier this month, OTP Bank in Hungary took a charge of 15 billion forints ($70 million) to cover delinquent loans at CKB Bank, its subsidiary in Montenegro.

All of which makes Mr. Munk’s Porto Montenegro project even more crucial to Mr. Djukanovic, not so much as proof that money can be made in Montenegro but that it can be done honestly.

“It’s going to take a long time,” Mr. Munk said. “We are building a community and we are doing it for the good of Montenegro and our investors.”


By LANDON THOMAS Jr.