Book: Djukanovic Used Immunity in Cigarette Smuggling

Francesco Forgione, a former Italian MP who led the Italian Parliament's Anti-Mafia Commission from 2006 to 2008, says Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has not testified more often before an Italian court in a long-running tobacco smuggling case because he is being protected by immunity that his position gives him.

In a book titled ‘Mafia Export’, published in Italy in December, Forgione sheds light on organised crime, citing the Montenegrin mafia and Djukanovic as one of the organisers of intenrational cigarette smuggling between 1994 and 2000.

Forgione added that court proceedings on the issue have to be completed soon.

According to a document at the Bari court in charge of the proceedings, for almost a decade, “Montenegro has been a haven for illegal trafficking, where criminals acted with impunity, while the ports of Bar and Kotor were used as logistic bases for motor boats, with protection which was guaranteed by the government.”

By 1999-2000 the illicit trade was worth several billion dollars annually, according to EU and US agencies.

The prosecutor at Bari’s court, Giuseppe Scelsi, has included Djukanovic in the investigation due to his alleged role in the smuggling.

The trial began in November 2001. Djukanovic was in Bari in March 2008 answering questions from the prosecution. Soon after that, the case in relation to him was archived.

“Judge Anna di Mauro refused the request for the issuance of a warrant to arrest Milo Djukanovic only because he had presidential immunity,” the Forgione’s book reads.

Scelsi earlier announced that Djukanovic could be tried for his alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling once he leaves politics. “Milo Djukanovic is being protected by immunity while he is the prime minister and chief of state. The moment he no longer has immunity, he will be able to be tried in a special procedure, different from the one that involves seven citizens from Montenegro and Serbia, which began on November 11,” Scelsi told Podgorica daily Dan in November.

The Montenegrin prime minister said that he did not use his immunity when testifying before the Italian courts and that he will be suing Scelsi who used the immunity “as an emergency exit from the uncomfortable circumstances of leading a ten-year investigation without arguments.”

A court in Bari announced in November that a decision on possible court proceedings against a group of nationals from Montenegro, Italy and Serbia over their alleged involvement in the cigarette smuggling ring will be discussed on 18 January.