Privileged Prosecutor: STATE AID AND BEMAX “DISCOUNTS”

Investigative stories · 30/04/2026

Authors: Dejan Milovac (MANS) and Tina Popović (ND Vijesti)

Documentation obtained by the Research Center of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) indicates that this was not an isolated case.

The plaintiff’s family had other arrangements with the same company – on land owned by his closest relatives, “Bemaks” built a building in Tološi, and the Burićs retained several apartments and garage spaces in that building.

This prosecutor, however, is not the only one who received privileged treatment when purchasing real estate in the “Tološki apartmani”. MANS previously announced that the “special” price also applied to  Marko Lazović , the son of former long-time security operative  Zoran Lazović .

Neither Burić nor the company “Bemaks” responded to questions regarding the arrangement when purchasing an apartment in “Tološki apartmani” in Podgorica.

Who made the better purchase – Burić or Bemaks?

The Burićs acquired the luxury apartment in 2016 – by exchanging a smaller property in the City Quarter for a much larger one in the “Bemaksa” complex, with an additional payment. According to the contract, for a total of 119,000 euros, they received a 119 square meter apartment and a garage, meaning the company took over their previous 92 square meter apartment and they paid an additional 27,000 euros in cash.

In this way, they acquired real estate at a price lower than 1,000 euros per square meter – below the average in Podgorica at the time, but also significantly below the real market value of real estate for that part of the city, where a square meter could hardly be found for less than 1,600 euros even a decade ago.

The apartment that Bemaks acquired in this way changed owners several times in the following years, and data from the Podgorica cadastre obtained by the MANS Research Center show that the price for Burić’s former apartment in the “Siti kvart” ranged from 870 to 1,300 euros per square meter.

The apartment in “Tološki apartmani” was registered to the plaintiff’s then wife,  Nela Tamindžić Burić , until 2019. That year, he was registered as the owner of half of the property.

In the same complex, a 104-square-meter apartment was also owned by Marko Lazović, who MANS previously determined was purchased below market price. The former, official owner of “Bemaks”,  Veselin Kovačević,  said at the time that he was “in a godfather relationship with Marko Lazović”…

Marko Lazović is the son of former influential police and secret service operative Zoran Lazović, now charged with creating a criminal organization, abuse of official position, the extended criminal offense of money laundering, and the extended criminal offense of illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosives.

Burić did not answer how the price for the property was negotiated. The company “Bemaks” also did not answer questions about the price of a square meter in “Tološki apartmani”. “Bemaks” did not answer the question of whether, and if so, why, the square meter of the property was sold to the Burićs below market value.

The state bought him a house, he sold and gave it away

Burić was one of the prosecutors who was cared for by the state, so almost at the beginning of his prosecutorial career, he was given a 37 square meter apartment in the Blok Pet neighborhood of Podgorica by a government decision in 2005.

He signed the contract with the then head of the State Property Administration,  Blaž Šaranović , now suspected of abuse of office. According to the document, Burić used the apartment in Block Five as a tenant for six years – from 1999, and in 2005 he bought it for just 3,700 euros, or 3,145 euros due to a discount for cash payment. Burić sold the apartment in 2024 for 60,000 euros.

The Government Commission, headed by  Predrag Bošković , once again helped Burić improve his housing conditions with 20,000 euros in March 2019. At that time, according to data available on the website of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, as well as extensive documentation from MANS, Burić owned an apartment in Block Five, purchased for only 3,145 euros, as well as half of a 119-square-meter apartment in “Tološki apartmani”, which his ex-wife received in an exchange with the company “Bemaks”.

Almost at the same time – in February 2019, the prosecutor bought a 34 square meter apartment in Budva for 55,000 euros. Burić probably directed the government’s assistance towards the purchase of this property in Budva, because, according to the contract, he paid the amount of 34,000 euros immediately, with the obligation to pay 21,000 euros by April 4, 2019. Burić gave the apartment in Budva to his daughter in August of the same year.

The prosecutor claims in his 2018 property and income report that he owns a 37-square-meter apartment, while his then-wife Nela Tamindžić Burić had a 119-square-meter apartment in “Tološki apartmani” in her name and an inherited 50-square-meter apartment. The family did not report any savings that year.

The following year, the prosecutor, in an extraordinary report on the use of property, claims that he took out a loan to resolve housing issues – 20,000 from the Government with an installment of 20 euros and an additional 21,000 from one of the Montenegrin banks.

In the regular annual report for 2019, Dražen Burić has no housing loans, and Nela Tamindžić Burić is not the owner of the inherited 50 square meter apartment, but she has 57,000 euros in her account. However, this sale, at least according to available ASK data, was not reported in a separate report.

Asked whether the prosecutor, in accordance with regulations, reported the sale in a special report, as well as whether the assets and income held in the previous years were subject to in-depth scrutiny, the ASK responded that they would “initiate a verification procedure.”

“The public will be informed of all established facts and findings in a timely manner upon completion of the procedure,” the Agency said.

Acquaintance with Mijajlović

Burić’s name also appears in the files of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office – in intercepted communications, he is mentioned by the arrested Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović, identified as the alleged head of the “Grand” clan. Mijajlović was considered one of the key figures in “Bemax” for years, although the company claims that he was never its owner, co-owner or employee.

According to investigators’ suspicions, Mijajlović allegedly committed multiple crimes.

In the communication, which is in the SDT files, and was previously reported by the media, Mijajlović talks with his cousin, then Basic Prosecutor Andrijana Nastic, about the upcoming dismissal of the deputy head of the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor’s Office (ODT), Nikola Boričić.

He was removed from that position by a decision of the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office at the end of December 2021.

The decision to dismiss was made just a few hours after prosecutors in the Podgorica ODT did not elect Nastic, who was suggested to them by the Higher Prosecutor’s Office as a proposal for the new deputy prosecutor of the Podgorica prosecutor’s office.

“Has the commotion calmed down?”, Mijajlović asks, among other things, about Boričić, and Nastic replies that he has convened a board.

“Convened the collegium this morning at 8:30… Threatens the press tomorrow,” the prosecutor sent, after which Mijajlović also mentions the heads of the then Higher and Supreme State Prosecutor’s Offices – Lepa Medenica and Dražen Burić.

“Who the f*ck… Lepa and Dražen know about it,” Mijajlović replied.

Burić did not answer questions about how long he has known Mijajlović and whether that acquaintance could have influenced the price per square meter of the apartment his family bought in 2019 in “Tološki apartmani”.

The Prosecutorial Council suspended Nastić in October 2025 because, it was announced at the time, criminal proceedings had been initiated against her for an act that made her unworthy of performing the prosecutorial function.

The prosecutor was previously arrested in an operation by the SDT and the Special Police Department (SPO). Her cousin Mijajlović and former senior police officials Milovan Pavicevic, Drago Spicanovic and Vladan Lazovic were also arrested in the same operation.

A case for cigarette smuggling is also being investigated against Mijajlović before the Podgorica High Court.

In March, at the beginning of the trial, Mijajlović said that due to his health condition, he wrote a will in which he wrote down in detail who had asked him for money.

“Due to my health condition, I wrote a will and stated who would be at fault if my children were left orphans. I wrote down in detail what happened, what everyone asked of me, what money and apartments,” Mijajlović said in his defense.

From the murder of Vojičić, through Telekom to Belivuk

Current High Court judge Boričić and special prosecutor Vukas Radonjić previously mentioned Burić before members of the Montenegrin Parliament as one of the superiors who challenged their order to arrest police officers allegedly responsible for lifting the ban on entering Montenegro for Belgrade criminals Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković…

Burić, as the former deputy head and prosecutor of the Podgorica ODT said at the time, requested that the case be handed over to special prosecutors.

Three years ago, during a hearing before MPs at the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration, Boričić said that he was “overwhelmed” by the case.

According to media reports, Burić was also part of several major prosecutorial investigations, which mostly ended without indictments.

He investigated the murder of Srđan Vojičić, the bodyguard of the late CANU academic Jevrem Brković, who lost his life protecting the Montenegrin writer. Burić never pressed charges in that case, and the murder remains unsolved to this day.

He was one of the prosecutors investigating the “Telekom” affair, and at the time he avoided traveling to the US to collect the documentation on the case, claiming that he did not speak English. The affair was closed, it was announced last summer, due to the absolute statute of limitations on the crimes.

According to media reports, Burić also led the investigation into the transfer of state property used by FK Mogren in Budva to companies linked to convicted drug lord Darko Šarić, and in that case, he ruled that there were no elements of a criminal offense. He also ruled in the case of the “Tara” cigarette factory in Mojkovac, which has been speculated for years to be producing cigarettes intended for smuggling…