State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Andrija Delic and Head of the Forestry Directorate Ranko Kankaras They filed several criminal reports with the Special State Prosecutor's Office and the Basic State Prosecutor's Offices in Pljevlja, Berane and Rožaje due to illegal logging in the area of those municipalities.
Delić also filed a criminal complaint with the Bijelo Polje Security Department for the illegal trade of technical wood, the actual purpose of which was to supply the population in rural areas with firewood.
According to the allegations in the report, at certain sawmills in Berane and Rožaje, in cooperation with the Police Directorate and the Tax Administration, around 600 orders for supplying citizens with wood were found, which were misused, so that instead of their actual purpose, they ended up in those sawmills and a warehouse as technical wood intended for further sawmill processing - the production of timber.
Thus, through abuses organized by the Forestry Administration, sawmill owners obtained wood for which the state was paid a fee of nine euros, while its actual value was over 100 euros per cubic meter.
For example, for 10 cubic meters of wood found at sawmills and intended for individuals, the state received only 90 euros instead of 800 to 1.000 euros.
As Delić claims, most of the seized orders are fictitious because they were not filed by the persons in whose names they are written (some are even written in the names of deceased persons), so instead of firewood, the highest quality trees were cut down - technical coniferous timber.
It is suspected that the owners of these sawmills paid between 70 and 100 euros per cubic meter for logs, by paying the money directly to officials from the top of the Forestry Administration, who in turn paid compensation to the state on behalf of individuals in the amount of nine to 30 euros.
The State Secretary states that when seizing a warrant from the warehouse of a sawmill in Rožaje, they came across one with the same name as the local prosecutor. Aldina Kalaca.
The prosecutor has not yet determined who this is, although there is a high probability that his name was also misused, given that he himself received firewood from the Forestry Administration as aid to the population in rural areas in 2024.
Delić said that the orders contained identical names of both close and distant relatives of the prosecutor himself, to which the prosecutor responded to "Vijesti" that he had no objection to investigating this and that a large part of the population in that town had the same surname.
During that time, Forestry Administration officials allegedly paid taxes retroactively and found people in the field with warrants to admit that it was their property, put pressure on them, offered them money, thereby directly admitting that they were in a crime zone.
"The field was devastated, reaching the level of 'clear cutting' in some places," said Delić, adding that the wood from the logging operation, which was intended to supply the population in rural areas, "ended up in sawmills in an organized manner, and the highest quality lumber was cut from that wood and exported to Kosovo and Albania with a VAT refund, which means that this is an organized multiple robbery of Montenegrin state property."
It is also incredible, he claims, that the Rožaje forests were massacred, and that the prosecutor calmly watched it all happen - especially sections 59 and 60 Crnja - Ibarac, which were almost completely cut down in three years, and an entire settlement sprang up on that land.
"In addition, according to our information, trucks of evidence from the Gojković doo warehouse, after being moved from the warehouse to a Berane sawmill from where it was further transported, have just ended up at certain sawmills in Rožaje without either the prosecution or the Rožaje Police being aware of this," said Delić.
Because of all this, he announced that he would seek the disqualification of Prosecutor Kalač in this case and file a complaint against him, because by his inaction and failure to act on the complaint, he contributed to the destruction of crucial evidence, the material not being seized and, consequently, its value not going into the state budget, but into private pockets.
"Also, the reason for the exemption is the fact that he is related to the persons against whom criminal charges have been filed," said Delić.
How much forest has actually been cut down?
According to the European Space Agency's image, about 580 square kilometers, or 4,25 percent of the forested area, have been cut down. Based on that image, the State Audit Institution prepared a report in which, according to their findings, about 9,2 million cubic meters were cut down in four years, while the Forestry Administration reported only 2,1 million cubic meters of felling.
It was precisely on this occasion that the head of the Berane Forestry Department, Željko Babović, announced at the end of April that arrests would be made at the top of the Forestry Administration, which was reported by "Vijesti", stating that it was an organized criminal group led by Forestry Administration officials.
Nothing came of it.
Prosecutor: I bought the firewood and paid for it properly...
The head of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Rožaje, Aldin Kalač, pointed out that he purchased firewood like all other citizens - legally and according to the official price list, in a procedure that is legally available to all citizens living in rural areas.
Kalač also rejected allegations of abuse, leaving it to the media.
detailed explanation which we are transmitting in full.
"I would like to inform you that in 2024, since I live in a rural area, I submitted a request to the Forest and Hunting Management Administration - PJ Rožaje, to purchase firewood, which is in accordance with Art. 78 of the Forest Law. The aforementioned Administration issued a decision approving me a certain quantity of wood, namely 7 or 10 m3, since I cannot remember now due to the passage of time, and I do not have the decision with me. The transfer of firewood - dry wood was duly made, after which I paid the transferred quantity, according to the official price list of the Forest and Hunting Management Administration, and then that wood was duly shipped to me after felling and given to me for use. Therefore, in this specific case, it is not about wood given free of charge, or about some kind of benefits, but exclusively purchased firewood, which is in accordance with Art. 78, paragraph 2, point 3 of the Forest Law. In In 2025, I did not use the said right".
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