Djukanovic Denies Giving Loans to Criminals

Prime Minister Djukanovic has dismissed opposition claims that the government handed out a loan of 2 million euro to a notorious alleged gangster.

Addressing the public on "Prime Minister's Hour" in parliament on Tuesday, and responding to a question from opposition MP Darko Pajovic, the Prime Minister said he was not aware of any such cases.

"Perhaps you were thinking of loans made to state companies ... which were later sold to some people,"Djukanovic said.

The state could not be expected to "predict whether someone who has been granted a loan will commit a crime in the future," he added.

The argument centres mainly on the case of the alleged drugs baron, Safet Kalic, who bought a state-owned hotel some years ago.

The government sold the state-owned Turjak hotel company to Kalic in his hometown of Rozaje in 2006.

Before it sold the company to Kalic, the government granted him a loan of 2 million euros loan to "revitalize" the hotel.

Kalic was recently arrested in Austria after more than three years on the run. His still in custody in Austria awaiting extradition to Montenegro.

There he faces charges of laundering millions of euros earned from selling drugs as the boss of the so-called Rozaje Clan.