Former director of the Civil Aviation Agency (ACV) Dragan Đurović he sued the institution he managed for three terms, because he claims that he cannot retire after his request for an extension of the severance pay, which he previously received for a year, was rejected.
Đurović was at the head of that institution from September 2009 until September 2021. The employment contract stipulates that he will receive compensation for 12 months after termination of office.
The Agency, however, claims that the former director is not entitled to another year of compensation, because according to the documentation on Đurović's work experience, on the day when the last monthly compensation was paid to him in September 2022, he had already attained the condition for retirement.
The Agency's position is that it approved the payment of compensation to Đurović for a period of 12 months from the day when his mandate expired in mid-September 2021 and in the amount of the salary he received in the last month before the termination of his office, and that the money was paid to him in full with the associated taxes and contributions.
According to the last property record after the termination of the position that Đurović reported to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption with the date of December 26, 2022, his salary was net 2.690 euros without past work and other allowances.
The provision of Article 9 of the Director's Employment Agreement from 2017 establishes that he has the right to receive compensation for a year after the termination of his position in the amount of the last salary he received and that this right ends before the established deadline, among other things, if he realizes the right to a pension ( second paragraph), as well as that it can be extended for another year if he acquires the right to a pension during that period (fourth paragraph).
In the documents, it is written that the employment contract was annexed in December 2019 and that the first and fourth paragraphs were amended, so the amended paragraph 1 stipulates that the director has the right to compensation upon termination of office on any basis in the amount of the year's salary, while the amended paragraph 4 prescribed that the right from paragraph 1 of this article will be extended for another year if he acquires the right to a pension during that period. The annex, among other things, changed the part that referred to the possibility of extension for another year with the obligation to extend for another year if the right to a pension is realized within that period.
In the lawsuit, Đurović also referred to the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector, which regulates the issue of the right to compensation upon termination of office, while the Agency states that the director of this institution is not recognized as a public official in this law.
The expert supplements the findings
At yesterday's hearing in the Basic Court, the judge Mirza Ademović instructed the economic and financial expert To Steve Kostić to supplement his findings for the second time, in order to specify Đurović's claims.
He did this after the ACV lawyer Anja Ivanovic Vukcevic, indicated that the expert's report covered the period until September 2022, while Đurović claimed his right to pension at the beginning of May of the same year and that the expert's report should only cover the period until May. She objected to the expert's findings and additions.
"I believe that there is no basis for the lawsuit, so the finding and amendment are groundless," said Ivanović Vukčević.
According to her, the employment contract clearly stipulates the conditions under which the right to compensation ends, and one of them is when a person realizes the right to a pension. She emphasized that if she accepted as true the certificate of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO) submitted by the prosecutor during August, Đurović would have acquired the right to a pension on May 5. Ivanović Vukčević also pointed out that some of the submitted evidence is not in the original and that the data from Đurović's work book do not match the data from the submitted certificates of the PIO Fund. She also requested that those documents be delivered.
Đurović's lawyer Darko Maraš he said that he was against it, pointing out that the length of service can be determined from the evidence and official records of the PIO Fund and not from the work book, which was entered at the discretion of the employers. Maraš added that it is symptomatic that during the proceedings the defendant refers to the annex and does not refer to the basic employment contract.
Judge Ademović ordered Maraš to submit Đurović's work book and necessary certificates from 2022, in the original, by the next hearing in February.
SDT is investigating an anonymous criminal complaint against Đurović
In the Special State Prosecutor's Office, they are working on an anonymous criminal report filed against Đurović.
This was officially confirmed to "Vijesitma" by state prosecutor and SDT spokesman Vukas Radonjić.
"In September of this year, an anonymous criminal complaint against the former executive director of the Civil Aviation Agency, for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization, was submitted to this prosecutor's office. An investigation is underway," said Radonjić.
Bonus video:
