Montenegro’s Europe Now leader accused of business ties with crypto mogul Do Kwon

Montenegro’s Europe Now leader accused of business ties with crypto mogul Do Kwon
By Denitsa Koseva in Sofia June 7, 2023

Milojko Spajic, the leader of Montenegro’s pro-Western Europe Now party, has been accused of having business ties with fugitive crypto mogul Do Kwon, who was arrested in the Adriatic country earlier this year.

The story broke in the last days of the pre-election campaign, ahead of the June 11 general election that Europe Now seems set to win.

Kwong sent a letter to outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, outgoing Justice Minister Marko Kovac and the Special State Prosecution, claiming that he financed Europe Now.

Abazovic said in a statement on June 6 that the government will forward the letter to the prosecution, seeking the launch of a probe.

According to Balkan Insight, government and prosecution sources have said unofficially that Do Kwon’s handwritten letter claimed that he has known Spajic since 2018 and that they held meetings in Serbia’s capital Belgrade.

Spajic responded, saying that Kwon is a fraudster and that it was Europe Now that informed the police that he was in the country. He also said that Kwon has cheated a lot of people, including his friends and the company for which he has worked in 2018.

Spajic said as quoted by public broadcaster RTCG that he was informed by his friends from the crypto industry that an attempt will be made to connect him to Kwon.

“We were informed about this scenario a few weeks ago, that they will try to connect me and Do Kwon, and the only connection is that he deceived all of us and that we reported him with pleasure [so he could] not flee Montenegro, into which he mysteriously entered,” Spajic said at press conference.

However, the letter was used by all his rivals as a chance to advance in the race. Nebojsa Medojevic, the leader of the far-right Movement for Changes (PZP), accused Spajic of being involved in organised crime. He added that Western media have reported that Montenegro is a country covering up illegal trade in cryptocurrency and that Spajic was involved in that.

Medojevic urged the prosecution to probe whether Spajic was a part of a global organised criminal group and whether he was in charge of laundering money from smuggling through cryptocurrencies.

"Milojko Spajic should be held accountable before the law," said Medojevic as quoted by RTCG.

“What do we know – that the leader of Europe Now Milojko Spajic had a business agreement with Kwon dating back in 2018. The letter says that this was confirmed by Do Kwon. Do Kwon has allegedly funded the campaign for local elections, presidential election and had the intention to also finance the general election campaign,” Milan Knezevic, the leader of the far-right Democratic People’s Party (DNP), said.

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