Barović: I never even had a coffee at the expense of the Telekom sale; as far as I am concerned, there was not the slightest trace of bribery in that deal
I have never owned a single share in Telekom in my life, either before or after the privatisation. As far as I am concerned, there was not the slightest trace of bribery or corruption in that deal. At least as far as I am concerned, there was not even the faintest trace of it... I never even had a coffee with anyone in connection with the sale of Telekom shares - businessman Veselin Barović told reporters outside the High Court.
Today, he gave a statement to the investigative judge in the case concerning the 2005 privatisation of Telekom, following a complaint filed by the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro.
Barović said he had no idea how his name had become linked to the case, adding that he did not know whether the complaint had been filed by MANS or someone else.
- The only thing my lawyer, Nikola Martinović, mentioned, which is what I said, was that I had never owned a single Telekom share in my life, either before or after the privatisation. In other words, the fund was the one selling them. I am a shareholder in the fund. The shares were sold on the stock exchange through a bank - Barović said.
Barović's defence lawyer, Nikola Martinović, said they had been informed of nothing beyond what they had already read in the media.
- Barović is charged with aiding and abetting the receipt of a bribe. He presented the judge with the information available to him, namely that he was a shareholder in Eurofond and that the shares were sold through the stock exchange, and that he had never discussed the privatisation of Telekom or the sale of its shares with anyone. His knowledge of the matter is limited to the fact that Eurofond sold its Telekom shares through an official broker on the stock exchange operating in Montenegro - Martinović said.
He added that this was where the entire matter ended, noting that there had been no questions or further explanations.
- There is no evidence of anything else in the document read out to us by the judge. There is neither evidence nor even an indication that Barović gave a bribe to anyone or received one from anyone. Therefore, we could not address questions for which there is not a single indication that the alleged events took place - Martinović said.
Martinović also stated that anyone looking at the proceedings objectively could see that there was nothing to the case and described it as a political spectacle intended to create arguments for public debate ahead of the upcoming elections.