SPO digs even deeper in the Coal Mine

Officers of the Special Police Department (SPO), on the order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, entered the Pljevlja Coal Mine on Tuesday, from where they took extensive documentation on the operations of the mining giant at the time he was in the leading position. Milan Lekic.

"Vijesti" learned from several sources from that state-owned company that SDT and SPO requested complete documentation and all contracts, which were signed by the former executive director from April 2021 until the end of August 2023, and which they had not previously taken, but also all decisions of the Board of Directors of the most important economic company, which together with Elektroprivreda forms the heart of the energy system of Montenegro.

The interlocutors claim that the visit of SPO officials took place while negotiations were ongoing and the ground was being prepared for the conclusion of a new contract with the Electric Power Company of Serbia on the sale of coal to EPS, after the long-announced ecological reconstruction of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant begins next year. The plants will then not work for at least eight months.

Due to this reconstruction, as explained by the RUP, a huge problem arose for the future operations of the Coal Mine - after this work is completed, they will be able to use only high-quality coal in the plants, while low-calorie or "dirty" ore, as now the way things are on the market, they can only sell to neighboring Serbia...

Mining engineer Milan Lekić at the beginning of 2021, as a member of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) and a close friend of the President of the Assembly Andrije Mandić, was elected executive director Rudnika, but was dismissed in August last year after the Labor Inspectorate found that he was elected to that position in gross violation of the law, i.e. bypassing the competition.

Lekić's return to the Pljevlja Coal Mine was not long-awaited - at the end of March, he was elected a member and then president of the Board of Directors, and insiders at the time claimed that the speaker of the parliament directly lobbied and politically conditioned the prime minister Milojko Spajić demanding that his cadre be returned to the head of the RUP.

At the beginning of July, at the constitutive session, he was again appointed as the president of the Board of Directors of the Mine, while the other two members from the previous convocation did not continue their engagement... It was reported that this happened because "due to extensive work obligations, they could not continue their mandate in the new one". .

On the order of SDT, SPO was particularly interested in business documentation - statements of all official payment cards for the executive director and members of the Board of Directors in the last few years, but also in data on paid sponsorships, donations and assistance...

Sale of coal, dumpers, tractors...

In the past three years, the Special State Prosecutor's Office has received numerous criminal reports due to business decisions and contracts concluded by the former executive director Milan Lekić in AD Rudnik uglja Pljevlja.

The most famous affair is about the contract that he initialed in May 2022 with Elektroprivreda Srbije on the sale of brown lignite coal to EPS at a price of 28,8 euros without VAT, according to which the company from Pljevlja exported brown coal to EPS and just at the time when the Serbian energy system was paying coal to Bosnia and Herzegovina at a minimum price of 65 euros per ton. At the time, Rudnik Uglja said that the calorific value of the coal was different and that the price could not be the same.

At the end of that year, SDT formed a case based on the criminal complaint of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which stated in the complaint that Lekić "using and exceeding the limits of his official position, concluded a harmful contract on the purchase and sale of brown lignite coal with EPS at a price of 28,80, XNUMX euros even though he knew that it was not the real price of coal"...

Half a year later, the SDT opened an investigation due to the well-founded suspicion that there had been abuse of official position in that business, and in June 2023, SPO officers from the Pljeval company also took business documentation related to that business.

At that time, it was announced that RUP and EPS had also signed a new contract on the sale of coal to Serbia, but this time the price was corrected and increased to 42 euros per ton of brown lignite coal. It was not revealed when the deal was concluded - before or after the SPO visit.

At the end of December 2023, Elektroprivreda Srbije unilaterally terminated the first contract on the purchase of brown lignite coal from Pljevlja Coal Mine, but RUP never received an explanation as to why the contract was terminated and why they did not file an appeal due to termination of contractual obligations.

Lekić claimed that no damage was done to the Pljeval state company, although after the initialing of the contract he said that it was a "big day" for the Pljeval mine. After the termination of the contract, he announced: "Elektroprivreda Srbije had grounds for termination, but no damage was done to the Coal Mine."

Rudnik uglja responded to numerous accusations about possible harmful business and clarified that they sold Serbia low-calorie coal - tailings, which does not suit the Pljevlja thermal power plant, which is good for the Kolubara thermal power plant in Serbia...

The SDT is also investigating the details of the criminal complaint, which, in addition to the coal, also related to the purchase of a dump truck (special truck) from the Bosnian-Herzegovinian company "BPS Ugljevik" for 3,5 million euros without VAT, which was a million more than the price but for the same vehicles bought a year earlier...

The criminal complaint was filed on May 16, 2022 due to the suspicion that Lekić, as stated, concluded a harmful contract for the procurement of dump trucks, manufactured by Belaz for the needs of RUP, with the company "BPS Ugljevik" for the amount of 3.459.800 euros (excluding VAT ).

In the report, it is also written that Lekić allegedly knew that this was not the realistic price of the dumper, especially because of the information that the same number of dumpers had been purchased from the same company a year earlier, but for a price that was one million euros lower.

"Vijesti" learns that SDT is also examining the procurement of work machines and tractors with attachments that Rudnik Pljevlja bought for planting and maintaining medicinal plant plantations on the former mine.

Throat in lavender

"Vijesti" announced a few days ago that after less than three years, after the first plants were planted, the "Coal Mine" is giving up the cultivation of aromatic plants - fields of lavender, thyme, sage and aromatic plants on the reclaimed pit of the former cement plant.

This was confirmed for "Vijesti" by the new executive director Nemanja Laković explaining that the RUP internal audit report showed that the project was unprofitable.

The first seedlings of thyme, sage, myrrh and two types of lavender were planted for the first time at the beginning of October 2021 on a plot of about four hectares near the former cement plant while the company was managed by Lekić.

The medicinal plant plantation was referred to as an "investment of vital importance for the life of Pljevlja and the people of Pljevlja", because it is a factory that is planned to provide new jobs and strengthen the economic strength of Pljevlja, but also of the entire country...

The company started the cultivation business with great enthusiasm after the visit of Lekić and his then assistant for corporate affairs and human resources development Bojan Krvavac to the company "Ljbilje" from Ljubinje, and especially because of the fact that according to the Law on Mining RUP is obliged to carry out reclamation land.

At the beginning, Lekić expressed great optimism regarding this project, which he planned to expand if "Pljevlja proves to be a suitable climatic environment for cultivation".

More than a million euros have been invested in the business so far - the purchase of work machines, distillers, employment of workers, but subsequent analyzes of the land showed that the Pljeval climate does not suit the plants because last year they managed to produce only three liters of essential oil.

"With God's help, he built churches all over Serbia, employed people from Pljevlja"...

On the eve of last year's dismissal of Milan Lekić from the position of executive director of "Rudnik Uglja", Bishop Atanasije of the Eparchy of Mileševo ​​addressed the SPC.

"Our brother Milan Lekić has been working tirelessly for decades in the interests of his church and his people. He actively supported non-building projects throughout our diocese and throughout Serbia. It is our duty, as the spiritual shepherd of these regions, to support the man who participated in the construction of many temples of God, employed hundreds of Pljevlja citizens and significantly participated in the development of the Pljevlja municipality. We are sure that, with God's help, Milan Lekić will remain in the position to which he was elected by the will of the people and that he will continue to faithfully serve his church and his people", said Atanasije.

It was employment, which the SPC representative addressed in his address, that was mentioned for years as a major problem that burdened the state-owned company during Lekić's mandate.

The average number of employees in the company was 2019 in 670, and 2021 in 779. A year later, the number of employees increased to 996, and in 2023 to as many as 1.168.

The company's financial reports show that in recent years, expenses for salaries and employee benefits have doubled. In 2019, they amounted to 14,14 million euros, and in 2023, 26,58 million euros.

There is also a misdemeanor proceeding against Lekić because the local traffic police caught him driving a company car drunk on the night of May 25 this year.

That night, the police measured 1,19 per thousand of alcohol in Lekić's blood, but he did not spend the night in a concrete mixer, which is a common procedure during deprivation of liberty, because he complained of health problems during his arrest, and then he was taken to the Medical Center, where the doctor on duty stated that "the person is not for detention in the premises of the police"...

Auditors are still determining, Rudnik claims that they work legally

The State Audit Institution (DRI) has not yet completed the audit of the Annual Financial Report of "Rudnika Uglja" Pljevlja for 2023, but yesterday the company issued a statement stating that "all data on the company's operations have been submitted to the DRI in accordance with the law".

They also emphasized that the "Coal Mine" cooperates with other authorities on a daily basis.

"So we act in full and in a timely manner according to the orders of the prosecutor's office in all those situations for which the competent authority estimates that it is necessary to investigate potential illegalities. "The Coal Mine informs the EPCG and the competent Ministry on a monthly and quarterly basis about all relevant information, including those to which requests for access to information refer," said the Mine.

In the announcement, they added that "they are currently facing some of the biggest challenges in the history of the company, such as the realization of the project of relocating the bed of the Ćehotina river and the shutdown of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant for eight months"...

"Our plea to all well-intentioned persons, including interested media and non-governmental organizations, is to support the enormous effort of all employees in the "Coal Mine" to overcome these challenges as successfully as possible, and not to make the work even more difficult and difficult with unnecessary sensationalist reporting."

The Balkan research network BIRN announced that the RUP did not respond to 14 requests for free access to information.

They have been operating in the red for years, last year they made a profit of 15 million

The coal mine had a positive business result in all three previous years.

In 2021, the net profit was 3,7 million euros, in 2022, 9,4 million, and in 2023, 15,2 million.

The number of employees in the company also grew from 779 in 2021 to 1.168 as it had last year according to financial reports.

Last year, the company exported 11 million euros worth of coal to Serbia. At the end of last year, Rudnik's accumulated and undistributed profit amounted to a total of 41,1 million euros.

The most important buyer of coal is the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant, which next year will not work for eight months due to overhaul, when the Mine will not have significant customers or income for that period, unless it continues the contract with Elektroprivreda Srbije.

The management of the mine asked not to distribute the dividend from last year's profit and retained earnings, so that it could finance all the obligations of the following year.