A total of 4.7 million euros was deposited into the dedicated account for the development of less developed municipalities in the first ten days of November last year, based on 47 approved so-called golden passports, according to the Action for Social Justice (ASP).
The non-governmental organization (NGO) stated that since then, there have been no payments from economic citizenship, and it is unknown where the money from passport sales is currently going and for precisely what purposes it will ultimately be spent.
This period coincides with the start of the new government’s work, while ASP data shows that just under 8.6 million euros were transferred from this dedicated account to the state treasury on November 9th, and only two days later, no payments from golden passports are registered on the account.
“At the same time, the Investment Agency, where this dedicated account is located, for the first time, concealed the names of applicants who obtained economic passports in the first ten days of November last year, without providing any explanation for changing the practice compared to previous periods when it provided complete information, including the names of individuals who obtained passports,” the statement said.
ASP will, as stated, file a complaint with the Data Protection and Free Access to Information Agency due to the withholding of information.
According to ASP’s available data, last year, 63.2 million euros were transferred from the dedicated account for the development of less developed municipalities to the state treasury.
“The economic citizenship program, sharply criticized by the European Union, was launched in 2020 by the government of the Democratic Party of Socialists, making a decision on the criteria, manner, and procedure for selecting individuals who can acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission for the implementation of a special investment program of special importance for the economic and business interests of Montenegro,” said ASP.
This decision ceased to be valid at the end of 2022, but by the end of that year, a large number of applications had been submitted to obtain economic passports, reported to be in the hundreds. One such passport cost 100,000 euros.
