Škaljari criminal clan members: „Everyone go home and vote for the Democrats!“
The scandalous parliamentary performance of Defence Minister Dragan Krapović, a senior official of the Democrats party, demonstrates that the party's leadership is willing to abuse their public positions in order to remain in power, while attempting to bury the truth about their close ties to certain criminal groups beneath a barrage of accusations against political opponents and independent media. Sky ECC communications, together with evidence gathered through covert surveillance measures, reveal connections between Aleksa Bečić's political party and individuals from the upper ranks of organized crime.
Following Boris Bogdanović, head of the Democrats' parliamentary group, another senior party official, Defence Minister Dragan Krapović, resorted to the same strategy – an attack is the best defence.
He did so from the parliamentary benches during a live television broadcast.
WHEN A MINISTER PAINTS TARGETS
Instead of answering a question from European Alliance MP Nikola Zirojević regarding why Krapović's name appeared in the recently disclosed ANOM communications of members of the Škaljari criminal clan, the minister launched a broad attack against the opposition lawmaker, as well as against the media outlets that had published compromising details from the encrypted conversations.
- MP Zirojević and this entire clique, those mimers, boomers, ETV, M Portal, Aco, Zoran and the rest, are doing all of this for one single reason: to undermine the credibility of the institution currently represented by Dragan Krapović - the Defence Minister said, effectively placing targets on both MP Zirojević and Television E, ETV Portal and M Portal.
Krapović's scandalous appearance, filled with insults and unfounded accusations, only confirmed an old truth: when you speak about others, you often reveal the most about yourself.
Because the leadership of Bečić's party cannot accuse others of ties to mafia organizations without first looking in the mirror. Had they done so, they would have seen that they themselves are not far removed from organized crime.
EVERYONE TO VICTORY - EVERYONE, EVERYONE!!!
Not only would they have seen it, they could also have heard it.
„Everyone go home and vote for the Democrats. Everyone go home and vote for the Democrats, like we always say, you understand. Everyone has to vote for the Democrats! Everyone! Everyone for the Democrats! On to victory, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, it's falling, falling, falling, falling, falling, falling...“
This voice message was sent via the encrypted Sky ECC platform on 13 August 2020 by Janko Vukadinović, a high-ranking member of the Škaljari clan, to his brother Predrag Vukadinović, who was also a member of the same criminal organization.
At the time, Janko Vukadinović had already spent two years in detention at Spuž prison on charges of drug trafficking and participation in the double murder of Miloš Šaković and bystander Radivoje Jovanović in downtown Podgorica in March 2018.
Nevertheless, while in detention, Vukadinović expected to be released should the government change following the parliamentary elections on 30 August 2020. That is why he instructed his brother to ensure that all members of their criminal network and their families voted for Aleksa Bečić's Democrats.
In his reply, Predrag Vukadinović added that certain individuals, without specifying who, were offering „€250 per ID card“.
This is not the only indication that organized crime actively supported Bečić's party ahead of the 2020 parliamentary elections.
„I THINK THERE ARE ABOUT 300 VOTES FOR BEČIĆ“
Another Sky ECC exchange reveals that several organized criminal groups backed Bečić's Democrats ahead of the 2020 elections.
This is evident from conversations between the late Jovica Vukotić, leader of the Škaljari clan, and fellow clan member Vladan Radoman.
- I've been working on this for ten days now. Everyone's going for Bečić... Everyone is collecting twenty to thirty votes, everyone has contributed - Radoman told Vukotić on 29 August 2020, one day before the parliamentary elections.
- I think we've secured around 300 votes for Bečić - Radoman reported regarding the success of the operation supporting the Democrats.
Details of these communications were published by Standard portal in February 2024. Interestingly, Bečić's Democrats achieved a significantly stronger result in Cetinje than opinion polls had predicted, winning 1,375 votes and becoming the second strongest electoral list after the dominant Democratic Party of Socialists.
Whether those 300 votes allegedly collected by Radoman and other Škaljari members contributed to that result has never been clarified.
Nor did Bečić, Bogdanović, Šaranović, Krapović, or any other Democrat official publicly comment after transcripts involving the leadership of the Škaljari clan became public.
„THEY'RE COWARDS... THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR POSITIONS“
Just as the Democrats remained silent following revelations about criminal support in Cetinje and Podgorica, they also said nothing after covert surveillance uncovered the activities of the „Budvanska“ organized criminal group in Budva.
Once again, those activities benefited Aleksa Bečić's Democrats during the August 2020 election campaign.
According to police records, the „Budvanska“ organized criminal group is considered an affiliate of the Škaljari clan. Ljubiša Kažanegra, the Kažanegra brothers and other members of the group actively supported the Serbian Orthodox Church's religious processions („litije“) while maintaining close ties with leaders of the parties that would later form the parliamentary majority after the August elections.
As previously reported by M Portal, the Democrats were initially the preferred political choice of the Budvanska criminal group while the party was still rising in popularity. However, after the opposition's first local electoral victory, the group shifted its support toward Dritan Abazović's URA movement.
Ognjen Kažanegra bluntly explained his opinion of the Democrats during a conversation with Blažo Rađenović of URA.
- These guys of ours, the Democrats, they're the biggest cowards. Let them hear this if they're listening: the Democrats are the biggest cowards. All they care about are their own seats. That's why they'll keep losing elections disastrously everywhere – Kažanegra said to Rađenović.
WHEN A PLEDGE IS NO LONGER A PLEDGE
None of these connections appeared to concern Montenegro's security sector, which is controlled by Aleksa Bečić and his party colleagues.
Bečić even publicly vowed that if anyone produced evidence linking the Democrats to organized crime, he would leave politics altogether.
- If anyone ever presents a single piece of evidence that we met, spoke with, let alone negotiated or cooperated with the Zvicers, the Vukotićs, the Drešajs, the Mićunovićs, or anyone else from that milieu, I will immediately leave not only politics, but Montenegro itself - the Democrats' leader pledged.
However, after Sky ECC communications emerged revealing links between members of organized criminal groups and the Democrats, Bečić fell silent. He remained in Montenegro and retained his position in government as Deputy Prime Minister in Milojko Spajić's cabinet.
The same applies to other Democrat officials: Danilo Šaranović continues to serve as Minister of the Interior, while Dragan Krapović remains Minister of Defence.
Instead of offering any substantive response to the allegations, the Democrats have continued to rely on the same strategy, that attack is the best form of defence, and have persisted in targeting independent and critical media outlets.