Montenegro police discover major international money laundering scheme, Šarić associate arrested

Podgorica, Montenegro (12 May 2011) – A 51-year old man from Pljevlja, Northern Montenegro, an associate of the suspected drug lord Darko Šarić, was arrested in Podgorica on suspicion of money laundering.

As the Montenegrin police reports, the man was arrested after a lengthy investigation on suspicion of having concealed the origin of multi-million revenue as the CEO of the Pljevlja-based “Mat Company” during 2008 and 2009. The money is “reasonably believed to have been acquired through the criminal act of unauthorised production, possession and distribution of narcotics,” says the police report.

The Šarić associate is suspected of having invested the criminal proceeds in legitimate financial activities, thus committing the crime of “money laundering through banking affairs”, and then “transferring the laundered money to a number of legal entities in Montenegro and Serbia,” the report concludes.

The case has been referred to the Special Prosecutor for Organised Crime.