Key evidence of the devastation of the forests has disappeared in recent days from the village of Gradinsko polje near Berane, practically in front of the police. Technical materials that were marked as means of committing criminal acts and the subject of investigations into organized crime in forestry were removed from the “Gojković” warehouse, even though they were seized by order of the prosecutor's office.
The warehouse, according to official data, is located at Vasilija i Zorica Gojkovic, while a criminal complaint was filed against Nikola Gojković.
The findings of "Vijesti" were confirmed by the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Berane, which stated in its response that police officers informed them about this three days ago, on June 15th.
They also explained that they were informed "that the technical material, which is the means of committing criminal offenses, which was seized by the Berane Regional Police Directorate on the order of the state prosecutor and which was stored in the town of Gradinsko polje, on a private plot in the immediate vicinity of the Berane - Andrijevica regional road, has disappeared."
According to unconfirmed information, there were 30 to 40 trucks of lumber, or 1.300 cubic meters of wood, which had to pass through the main road.
Responding to the question of what specific measures they will take, the Berane prosecutor's office said that on this occasion the state prosecutor ordered the Police Directorate to file criminal charges against Nikola Gojković for the criminal offense of preventing the production of evidence.
The seized material is the subject of criminal charges for organized crime in forestry, filed by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. Andrija Delic and Head of the Forestry Directorate Ranko Kankaras.
Due to the abuse of orders issued by the Forestry Administration for the needs of the population in rural areas and the devastation of forests, Delić and Kankaraš previously filed five criminal charges with the basic state prosecutor's offices in Berane and Rožaje, providing evidence that the wood obtained on the basis of the orders ended up in sawmills in the Berane and Rožaje areas instead of for firewood.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Berane has opened several cases for the criminal offenses of abuse of official position, destruction of forests and damage to the environment.
"After collecting evidence in the investigation process, we submitted the case file with the collected evidence to the Special State Prosecutor's Office for assessment of whether there may be any offenses within the jurisdiction of that prosecutor's office," the ODT told "Vijesti".
Announcements by the head of the Berane Police Department Željko Babović at the end of April about arrests for forest destruction at the top of the Forestry Administration, which "Vijesti" wrote about, have not come true to this day - the Berane prosecutor's office has not issued arrest warrants, despite the fact that, according to Babović, the Police Administration has fully completed the cases.
Instead, evidence has disappeared from the "Gojković" warehouse, and the prosecution is silent about what is happening with the material found at other warehouses and in the sawmill of the "Goramont" company in Berane.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Rožaje states that it took measures and actions in parallel with the controls conducted by Delić and Kankaraš, that it merged the criminal reports they filed with the criminal reports of the Police Directorate into one case and forwarded them to the Special State Prosecutor's Office.
Delić and Kankaraš assess the actions of the basic state prosecutors' offices so far as "working under duress" with a clear desire to exclude themselves from processes related to the fight against organized crime in forestry.
"However, what is worrying is the fact that the disappearance of evidence in the proceedings could jeopardize the entire hard work of more than a year, both by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Police Directorate. It is undeniable that the basic state prosecutor's offices in Berane and Rožaje bear responsibility for this," said Kankaraš.
Delić and Kankaraš said that they will not leave anything to chance, emphasizing that they will not leave anything to chance, because there is another level of control over timber trade in the state administration, the mechanisms of which may be launched in the coming period.
They also state that they believe in the seriousness of the actions of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, and given that the problem has escalated and the state is suffering enormous damage, they expect urgent action.
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