He was in the public eye due to several controversies: Odović, Photo: BORIS PEJOVIC

He was in the public eye due to several controversies: Odović, Photo: BORIS PEJOVIC

25.08.2026. 06:55h

Former Minister of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property Janko Odović, was not sent to work in Brussels, although in September last year the Government announced that he would be hired as a special advisor in the Mission of Montenegro to the European Union (EU).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP) told “Vijesti” that Odović has been employed in that department for a fixed term since October 6, 2025, but that he has never been assigned to work at the Mission of Montenegro to the EU in Brussels.

“In this specific case, the appointee was not assigned to work at the Mission of Montenegro to the EU, and, in this regard, he never performed the duties of an advisor at the Mission,” the MFA’s response states.

The department did not specify what jobs Odović is (currently) engaged in.

They reminded that employees are assigned to work in diplomatic and consular missions through the procedure prescribed by the Law on Foreign Affairs and by-laws, taking into account the scope of work of the specific mission.

At the beginning of September last year, the government unofficially told the editorial offices of several media outlets, including “Vijesti”, that Odović would be appointed as a special advisor to the Mission to the EU, after he was removed from the position of minister in July 2024, during the reconstruction of the Prime Minister’s cabinet. Milojko Spajić (Europe Now Movement).

During his ministerial term, Odović was in the public spotlight due to several controversies. In March 2025, he was questioned twice by the Special Police Department as a citizen, as part of an investigation related to the issuance of permits for the construction of towers by the company “Mia Investments” on the site of the Adriatic Fair in Budva, as well as a skyscraper in Bar.

Odović said at the time that he did not expect to be arrested, but that he expected someone to be held accountable.

“I expect someone to be held accountable, I don’t know if they will be arrested, because arrests achieve nothing,” he said after the hearing on March 10.

Regarding the hearing that took place a few days earlier, Odović told reporters that he had been summoned in a case related to “one of the buildings in Budva.”

“And what caused the disputes was whether the building permit was issued in accordance with the law,” he said at the time, adding that the permit for that building was issued on the last, or rather the penultimate, day of his ministerial mandate.

“Which I did not sign, nor was I authorized to sign, but someone else. I think it is in the interest of all citizens to check whether the legal procedure was followed,” Odović said at the time.

The former minister also attracted public attention with his appearances at press conferences and his attitude towards journalists. In April 2024, journalists waited for just under an hour in the Government lobby for a press conference where Odović was supposed to speak, but it was ultimately postponed. It was then announced that it might be held a week later, after the Government session, which did not happen.

The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property announced at the time that Odović “expressed regret for the misunderstanding” that arose in connection with the announced press conference, saying that he values ​​journalism as a profession.

Allegations of mobbing within the department headed by Odović appeared in public, but they were never officially confirmed, nor were the competent institutions responsible for deciding on them.

Odović’s term was also marked by the decision to initiate the demolition of the illegal building “Lamela C” in the Podgorica neighborhood of Zabjelo. However, the demolition was temporarily halted by a decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica and was later not resumed.

The announcement that Odović would be sent to Brussels raised the question: has the current government continued the former practice of sending compromised personnel into diplomacy? During the three-year rule of the Democratic Party of Socialists, it was a common practice for individuals to “take refuge” in diplomacy in order to avoid being in the public eye due to the numerous scandals that followed them.

The same issue was recently raised by the opposition after it was announced that a Democratic Party official would Zdenka Popović move from parliament to diplomatic waters. She resigned from the position of Deputy Speaker of the Parliament to be appointed as the Special Envoy of the Head of Diplomacy at the Embassy of Montenegro in Slovenia. The opposition claimed that the Democratic Party official was “running away from the ‘Carina’ case”, which concerns the devastation of the coast in Baošići (Herceg Novi).

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