CEAC welcomes EU urging Montenegrin government to fight corruption

CEAC claims that its investments in, and management of, KAP have been systematically undermined by the Montenegrin government over past years, culminating in the illegal expropriation and sale of KAP assets in July, against which a Cyprus court has issued an injunction.

“We are extremely encouraged by the very clear message that EU ministers have sent the Montenegrin government on the need to put its house in order if it wants to stand a chance of becoming an EU member … The Montenegrin government must urgently sit around the table and negotiate a reasonable settlement to the KAP dispute,” CEAC’s external legal counsel Matthias Menke said in a statement.

CEAC’s arbitration claims against Montenegro amount to some 900 million euro ($1.1 billion), almost 30% of the country’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP).

The Council's conclusions endorse the findings of the Commission’s October 2014 Progress Report, which spoke of the “risks of a new round of contingent liabilities for the public finances” as a result of ongoing international arbitration cases against Montenegro initiated by CEAC following the illegal expropriation of the company in summer 2013, CEAC said.

CEAC, established in 2005 to manage the aluminium business interests of the En+ Group in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Montenegrin government, each owned 29.3% of KAP prior to the sale of the company.

KAP was declared bankrupt a year ago.

($=0.7976 euro)