"Rokshped", the empire of the Albanian family targeted by the Montenegrin prosecution

As part of an action against cigarette smuggling, Montenegro's special police raided the Stanaj family's villa complex in the Stari Aerodrom neighborhood in Podgorica.

This family is the owner of the Rokshped company. The action took place by order of the Special Prosecutor's Office. On June 9, the former director of Rokshped, Prokopie Peric, and four other people, including the owner of the MP Shped Trans company, Predrag Maxhgal, were arrested, while Ivan Turcinović surrendered himself.

Perić is a director of the company Plus, which sells tobacco products and is affiliated with Rokshped. The investigations target the businesses of Rokshped - one of the most powerful companies in Montenegro.

At the head of the Rokshped company is Nuo Stanaj, while Rokshped Auto Qendra is headed by Sander Stanaj. According to unofficial sources, they have not been in Montenegro for a long time.

What is known about the Stanaj family's businesses?

The Stanaj family founded the Rokshped company in 1992. The company, run by Rrok Stanaj, was initially focused on transporting goods by land.

During the sanctions against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the company was engaged in the import and sale of oil and petroleum derivatives. The first gasoline pump was opened in 2000.

Eight years later, he sold the pump chain to the Russian company, Lukoil, for 26.5 million euros, with a clause allowing Rokshped to continue operating in the business.

In 1992, the company was also registered for the activity of importing and exporting cigarettes, with the approval of the Economic Court in Podgorica.

The firm is the sole authorized importer of a large number of well-known cigarette brands in Montenegro and the distributor of one of the largest international manufacturers, Japan Tobacco International.

It owns a network of approximately 300 outlets for the distribution of printing and cigarettes. In 2009, he took over the network of 188 press outlets from the Croatian company Agrokor, while the year before he founded Tobacco S press, with 80 retail outlets.

Rokshped Auto Center is the authorized distributor of car brands: Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Cupra. During the 90s, the company supplied cars to the Government of Montenegro.

In 2006, it bought the Galeb hotel in Ulcinj, which was then demolished and a new hotel had to be built in its place. Rroku, who had six sons, died in November 2016.

The businesses were mainly run by his sons, Anton and Nua. The other brothers, Lubo, Vaso, Sandri and Simoni, also worked in the family company holding various positions.

Anton - accused in Belgrade, killed in Sudan

Anton, who in September 2007 left Cyprus - via Belgrade - for Podgorica, was arrested at Belgrade airport, during a police operation called "Memphis". He was accused of organizing an international network for cigarette smuggling, using the family company as a cover.

In addition to the trade in legal cigarettes, according to the prosecution, he also dealt with counterfeit cigarettes, which he imported into Montenegro through companies registered in Cyprus and in Dellauer, USA.

Cigarettes were stored in the Port of Tivar. It was officially reported that they were sold in free shops in Montenegro, but in reality they were smuggled into Serbia and from there distributed to countries in the region and the European Union.

Anton and 26 other people were accused of causing 65 million euros of damage to Serbia's budget between 2004 and 2007 through cigarette smuggling.

In 2011, Anton was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison and a fine of 100 thousand euros as the leader of the criminal group. Other members of the group were sentenced to various measures - from suspended sentences to 5 years in prison.

The court then released him on bail, after accepting a guarantee of 400 thousand euros for him to be protected in freedom. But, in March 2013, he was killed in Sudan, where he reportedly had a tobacco production company.

His family announced that he had stayed and worked there for "a short period". According to the employees, he was killed by his business associate, Mujo Sefa, from Kosovo.

Activities in Serbia and relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina

Anton Stanaj has also been mentioned as one of the participants in the consortium that privatized the Zmaj combine plant in Zemun, which failed after privatization. He has also been mentioned as the owner of the Erdevik winery in Vojvodina.

In addition to these, the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) reported that Rokšped has also bought shares in several companies in Serbia – among them: Agrovojvodina, Agrocoop, Stanisic, Banat Seme, Mlinpek, Sugar+, M.E.A and Panonliv.

The financial investigation into Stanaj's activities in Serbia has never been initiated.

In 2013, CINS and the regional organised crime and corruption reporting network OCCRP reported that they had obtained a report by the State Agency for Investigation and Protection of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SIPA), which stated that the Stanaj family had cooperated with Naser Kelmendi and Ekrem Lluka from Kosovo.

Naser Kelmendi was sentenced in May 2023 by a court in Prishtina to four years and eight months in prison for drug trafficking.

Nuo Stanaj - accusations in Serbia

According to the same source, Anton's brother, Nuo Stanaj, was accused in 2011 in Serbia of abuses during the privatisation of the Belgrade company Spherical Bearing Industry.

According to the indictment, the company suffered a loss of 9.2 million euros. Nua appears as the founder and director of the company Rokshped, with 50.02% of the shares, while Lubo owns 33.3% and Vaso 16.6%.

Despite the fact that Anton Stanaj had been arrested and tried for cigarette smuggling, the Rokshped company continued its activities in Montenegro without hindrance - with the distribution of the press, cigarettes and cars.

According to documents obtained by the OCCRP and CINS, from 2008 to 2011, Rokshped won contracts in public tenders with a total value of 3.8 million euros.

Sander Stanaj - investigations in Montenegro

Sandri is the sole owner of the company Rokshped Auto Qendra. In January 2021, Montenegro's Special Prosecution launched investigations against him and temporarily blocked over two million euros.

He was interrogated after the Police Financial Intelligence Unit submitted data to the Prosecutor's Office showing that he had illegally injected over two million euros into the financial system.

Sandri said that this money was given to him by his father, more than ten years ago, and that he now kept it in the bank.

During the investigations, 11 members of the Stanaj family were also interviewed. The prosecution also started investigations against Sandri for suspicions of tax evasion and money laundering. This investigation has not yet been completed. Sander Stanaj also has a firm in Albania./ REL