Budimir Aleksić voted for the Government to pay €119,000 annually to „Srpska kuća“, a company he co-founded and co-owns?!

Budimir Aleksić, Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro for Education, Science, and Relations with Religious Communities, violated the Law on the Prevention of Corruption when, at the end of May last year, he voted in favor of signing a lease agreement for the premises of the company „Srpska kuća“ („Serbian house“) in Podgorica.

AGENCY 

DECISION

In its decision dated November 10 last year, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption states that Aleksić, as a public official, should have recused himself from voting on the Government’s decision to lease office space from „Srpska kuća“ because he was in a conflict of interest - as a founder and co-owner of that company. 

- It is established that public official Budimir Aleksić violated Article 10, paragraph 1, and Article 30 of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, for the reason that on May 29, 2025, at the 81st session of the Government of Montenegro, he participated in adopting the information regarding the signing of a lease agreement for office space for the purpose of using conference halls with the company „Srpska kuća“ LLC Podgorica, of which he is one of the founders and a member of the company’s Assembly, as well as the holder of a share in this company - the Agency’s decision of November 10, 2025, states, among other things.

 ALEKSIĆ „DID NOT KNOW“ HE WAS A CO-OWNER?!

In explaining its decision, the Agency notes that Budimir Aleksić claimed in his statement that, quote, he is „neither the owner nor co-owner of the real estate of 'Srpska kuća'“, and therefore could not have been in a conflict of interest nor violated the Law on the Prevention of Corruption.

However, in the decision signed by Agency Director Dušan Drakić, the Statute of „Srpska kuća“ is cited, which unequivocally confirms that Aleksić, as a member of the Government, was indeed in a conflict of interest.

- By reviewing the Statute of the company „Srpska kuća“ LLC Podgorica dated December 6, 2021, it was established that Budimir Aleksić is one of the founders (Article 2) and that he owns a 3.83 percent share in the company (Article 5) - the Agency’s explanation states.

„SRPSKA KUĆA“ - WITHOUT A TENDER 

After the Government of Montenegro established in April 2024 that, due to the relocation of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office to a building at 2 Jovana Tomaševića Street, it tasked the Administration for State Property with finding adequate premises to ensure, quote, the „continuity of the Government’s work“.

In May 2025, the Administration for State Property proposed that the Government adopt a decision to lease 820 square meters of space in „Srpska kuća“. Following direct negotiations, without a public tender, the Government accepted the final offer of „Srpska kuća“ to lease four rooms at a price of 9,922 euros per month, or an annual rent totaling 119,064 euros.

The lease agreement was signed on June 18, 2025, by Emilo Labudović on behalf of the lessor „Srpska kuća“, and by Director of the Administration for State Property Koča Đurišić, on behalf of the lessee.

The fact that the deal was concluded without a prior public tender was not assessed by the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as a violation of public procurement law. For Prime Minister Spajić and members of the Government, it was not considered a political obstacle that approximately 120,000 euros per year would be allocated to a company into which the Government of the Republic of Serbia, on the order of Aleksandar Vučić, had already invested 3.5 million euros in 2020.

According to information from Television E, Budimir Aleksić is not the only official of the Government of Montenegro who has been under the focus of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption regarding alleged irregularities, failure to report gifts, and other actions prohibited under the Law on the Prevention of Corruption.

However, in response to an inquiry from Television E, the Government of Montenegro did not provide a reply by the time this report and article were completed.