In November of last year, the Ministry of Justice filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) against the public bailiff Vladan Batak due to suspicion that he abused his official position, obtained material benefits and caused significant material damage to the state coffers and the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO).
This was officially told to "Vijesta" by the Department of Justice. They clarified that they did so based on the letter from the Chamber of Public Executors and the evidence they received from the PIO Fund, and that the prosecution informed them in December 2023 that the case files based on this application were created in the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Kolašin .
Batak was a public bailiff in Kolašin, and he dealt with cases before the Basic Court in that and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje.
A number of citizens from these cities have already complained to the "News", and several of them have initiated proceedings before the local courts, due to problems with the work of Batak. In particular, the citizens are still on the list of debtors for electricity at EPCG, even though they paid the money, after Batak collected the debt but did not register the payment and directed the money to the account of the state energy company.
Elektroprivreda (EPCG) told "Vijesta" last week that they are also conducting proceedings against this former executor in Kolašin, also for abuse of official position. For some citizens, EPCG still calculates interest on the debt, even though they paid it to Batak two years ago.
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The Ministry of Justice clarified that according to their records, citizens did not complain about Batak's work, so no procedures were initiated to determine his disciplinary responsibility. They emphasized that no irregularities were noticed during the regular annual supervision of his work, but that disciplinary proceedings against him were initiated by the Chamber of Public Executors.
They added that Batak was appointed public bailiff by the decision of the Minister of Justice on December 27, 2016, and that at his personal request and by the minister's decision again, he stopped this job on November 20, 2023.
"In November 2023, the Ministry of Justice submitted a criminal complaint to the SDT against public bailiff Batak due to suspicions that he illegally obtained material benefits by abusing his official position and caused significant material damage to the PIO Fund and the budget of Montenegro. The aforementioned application was submitted based on the notification of the Chamber of Public Executors and evidence provided by the PIO Fund. In December 2023, the Ministry was informed by the SDT that the case files formed based on the aforementioned criminal report were handed over to the jurisdiction of the ODT in Kolašin", they stated from this department.
They emphasized that by the decision of the Minister of Justice from November last year, Batak's cases and competences were inherited by Ivan Sekulić.
"In July 2024, the Ministry of Justice announced a competition for the appointment of a public bailiff for several bailiff positions, including for the area of the Basic Court in Bijelo Polje and the area of the Basic Court in Kolašin, one position of public bailiff with the official seat in Kolašin. In this competition, there were no registered candidates for the said position", emphasized the Ministry.
The Chamber of Public Executors told "Vijesta" last week that Batak was fined at the end of 2021 for obvious or gross abuse of authority, while last year, after a complaint, it was established that there was a well-founded suspicion that he had illegally disposed of money from the account, i.e. . that he did not have separate accounts for payments from execution and for depositing money on behalf of the surety.
According to citizens' claims, Batak closed the office in Kolašin and turned off the phones, and "Vijesti" already tried to contact him on several phone numbers and the office, but there was no feedback.
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