Montenegro audit finds unrecorded campaign funds in Budva political group's 2025 accounts

Montenegro's State Audit Institution issued adverse opinions on both the 2025 financial statements and compliance of the local political group Budva naš grad–Nikola Jovanović, identifying election-campaign income and spending omitted from its accounting records. The findings concern financial reporting and legal compliance; the published audit does not establish that money was stolen or that any individual committed a criminal offence.

The final audit, dated 22 October and announced on 23 October 2026, says the group failed to record **€18,837.27 in campaign-related income** and **€18,999.13 in expenses paid from its election account** in the books and annual financial statements. The auditors identify the income as municipal funding received in January 2025 following the November 2024 Budva local election. They also found that transactions from the dedicated campaign account had not been recorded in the books.

The institution's 34-page final report distinguishes those omissions from other accounting weaknesses. It identifies unpaid bookkeeping services that should have been valued and disclosed as in-kind support, missing chronological transaction records, and year-end closing entries not completed. The report records **€126,407** as equity shown on the balance sheet but not entered in the books because the closing entries had not been made. That figure is an accounting balance, **not an auditor finding of missing or stolen cash**.

A separate 2025 financial filing, submitted by the political group on 31 March 2026 and available from Montenegro's Agency for Prevention of Corruption, establishes the group's own reporting submission. Its cover letter says the group lacked a separate registration number needed for electronic submission and would supply documents by email. That administrative explanation should not be treated as an answer to the later auditor findings about omitted transactions.

The audit also says part of the November 2024 campaign's advertising and publicity expenses was paid from the group's regular account in 2025 rather than from the dedicated campaign account. The audit cites the political-finance law governing how campaign costs must be paid. The group was instructed to submit an action plan responding to **17 recommendations by 22 November 2026**, with an implementation report due **22 April 2027**.

The auditor sent the report to a parliamentary committee and the anti-corruption agency for their information. That referral is **not a criminal conviction or a finding that prosecutors have opened a case**. An updated response from the political group, any corrected accounts, the agency's administrative assessment and any subsequent appeal or enforcement action were not established in the records reviewed for this analysis.

The distinction matters for readers outside Montenegro: the audit documents specific failures in political-finance reporting, while criminal intent, any ultimate penalty and whether the recommended corrections have been made remain open questions.