Obradović and Ivanović blocked "Plantaže" for 350.000 euros

According to "Vijesti" information, the company "OMP Engeneering" initiated the procedure of compulsory collection of 350.000 euros from "Plantaž" on the basis of the settlement agreement concluded with the former management in April last year due to the failed disputed business of the briquette factory.

The then management of "Plantaž" signed the settlement even though during the court case, experts and witnesses were on the side of that company, that is, that it was not to blame for the failure of this business. Also, the management at that time did not even hire lawyers who would give them an opinion on that settlement.

The owners of "OMP Engineering" are Oleg Obradović and Miodrag Ivanović, who are suspects in the "Telekom" affair. The co-owner of the company during the contract period was the former minister and now MP Predrag Bošković. Their lawyer in the court proceedings was Nikola Martinović, and the lawyer of "Plantaža" was Ana Đukanović. Both had business interests in the "Telekom" affair, but no charges were brought against them.

According to the settlement agreement, which became an enforceable document, "OMP Engineering" had the right to enforce this amount in the event that "Plantations" did not pay it by October 1, 2020. The second part of the settlement is for "Plantaže" to transfer to this company a plot of 37 square meters in the warehouse-business zone in Donji Kokoti, valued at 1.048.474 euros. "Plantaže" was supposed to transfer this plot to the former partners by August 31 of last year. The former management did not fulfill any of these requirements, but then "OMP Engineering" did not initiate the procedure.

The company's new management reviewed all documents related to this dispute, in order to protect itself from possible negative consequences due to suspicions that the disputed settlement agreement was concluded to the detriment of "Plantaž", and that the company suffered multimillion-dollar damages. Based on the report, according to "Vijesti" information, criminal proceedings could be initiated. Although Obradović and Ivanović could initiate forced collection since October last year, this was done only now.

The story of the briquette factory begins on November 17, 2009, when "Plantaže", headed by Verica Maraš at the time, announced a public call for investors to enter into a joint investment that would solve the problem of waste raw materials. The company "OMP Engineering", which was founded three days later, on November 20, submitted an offer on January 12, 2010.

The contract on the establishment of the factory for the production of briquettes "Plant-OMP" was concluded on September 20, 2010, and both parties had a 50 percent share. In July 2011, the director Maraš and the then mayor Miomir Mugoša ceremonially put the factory into operation by cutting the ribbon, but it did not continue production.

On November 27, 2014, "OMP Engineering" initiated legal proceedings against "Plantaž" for alleged failure to provide raw materials for the operation of the briquette factory, seeking damages of six million, i.e. two million for investment and four million for lost profit. After that, "Plantaže" filed a counterclaim, demanding that they be compensated for damages, the amount of which would be specified during the proceedings, according to the findings of court experts.

During the court proceedings, expert in the field of agriculture, Rade Mijović, established in his report that "Plantaže" had 11.292,880 kilograms of raw material for the production of briquettes, that is, that the raw material was more than enough, as well as that "Plantaže" suffered damage in the amount of 753.271 euros due to the drying of the vines.

Mechanical expert Goran Dedić found in his report that the factory cannot produce briquettes because there is a problem with the mill for coarse trimming of the trimmings, and there is a lack of machines for technological operations on the line in question.

According to the invitation for the selection of investors and the contract, the obligation of "Plantaž" was to provide raw materials, while the investor had to provide quality technology.

The witness Mato Zubac, as an independent expert on this technology, said at the trial that there is an obvious problem in the technology, and that the line set up in this way cannot function and produce briquettes. That the raw material was not the problem but the technology was also confirmed by the fact that "Plant OMP" sold the raw material to another company "Briket" DOO.

From the findings of financial expert Dragan Pavićević, it follows that the total investment of Plantaž in the joint venture amounted to - 1.467.029,02 euros, while the total investment of "OMP Engineering" is 1.278,674,47 euros.

During the trial, none of the experts took the side of "OMP Engenerating", which was a signal that they would lose the court case. However, in November 2019, they sent "Plantaža" a proposal to conclude an out-of-court settlement. The Board of Directors of "Plantaž", headed by Veselin Vukotić, tasks the Commission appointed by the Executive Director to prepare a report on the settlement proposal.

Several members of the Board of Directors requested that a legal opinion be obtained from the law firm that represented the company or some independent law firms, but this was not done even though it should have been a basic step before making a decision to conclude the settlement, as the litigation before the court was ongoing.

In March 2020, the board of directors ordered the conclusion of the settlement so that the former partners hand over a plot of 37 square meters and the amount of 350 euros, and that they transfer to "Plantaže" their share in the factory, whose only asset is a hangar on Ćemovsko polje. The settlement agreement was concluded before a notary public on April 23, 2020.

"Plantations" should have received three million, but they paid one and a half million

If the dispute had continued and the verdict had been based on the findings of court experts, "OPM Engineering" should have paid "Plantaža" EUR 1.467.029 in damages and EUR 1.682.395 in lost profits.

So instead of "Plantaže" receiving something over three million euros, the former management accepts to "compensate" Obradović and Ivanović with almost one and a half million euros through rent and money without any proven guilt for its responsibility for the non-functioning of the joint company.

The settlement was concluded without consultation with lawyers and without seeking information about the status of the case, even though the litigation is ongoing. The legal opinion on the need to conclude a settlement was given by the then director of the Department for Legal and General Affairs, Miroslav Vuković, although the commission did not have any review or analysis of any evidence conducted during the procedure. So it is not clear on what basis they determined that an out-of-court settlement is a perfect legal deal for "Plantaže", as well as why they decided on an out-of-court settlement instead of a court settlement.