Lekić will be able to "hide" in the Parliament from criminal prosecution: Return to the bench a hurdle for prosecutors?

New Serbian Democracy (NSD) official Milan Lekić will be able, if his government colleagues allow him, to "hide" in the Parliament from criminal prosecution in the event of causing an accident due to drunk driving, and possible proceedings in the cases of selling brown coal to the Serbian Electric Power Company (EPS) and purchasing dump trucks while he was the executive director of the Pljevlja Coal Mine (RUP).

Lekić has returned to the parliamentary benches, where he will succeed Marko Kovačević, who recently resigned due to the incompatibility of positions, that is, because he was re-elected as the first man of Nikšić.

In mid-May, the Pljevlja Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) filed an indictment against the new-old NSD parliamentarian for endangering public traffic, after he crashed an official RUP vehicle in October last year, with a blood alcohol level of 1,22 per mille, causing extensive material damage.

Spokesperson and prosecutor at the Pljevlja ODT, Ivan Gačević, told "Vijesti" yesterday that it is the duty of the Basic Court in Pljevlja, after Lekić returns to the Parliament, to ask it to revoke his parliamentary immunity, which protects him from criminal prosecution.

"... Given that the investigation into the case has been completed and the indictment has been filed, all further actions are within the jurisdiction of the Basic Court in Pljevlja," he said.

For causing the accident, the judge of the Bijelo Polje Misdemeanor Court fined Lekić 750 euros, three penalty points, and a protective measure of a three-month driving ban.

"Vijesti" was informed yesterday by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) that they had formed a single case regarding the sale of coal to EPS and the purchase of a dump truck, which they forwarded to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje.

"Regarding the event you are interested in, a criminal case was formed in the SDT, which, during the investigation process, the special prosecutor submitted to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje, as the competent authority," SDT spokesperson, special prosecutor Vukas Radonjić, responded to the newspaper.

The Bijelo Polje Higher Prosecutor's Office told "Vijesti" that an economic expert is investigating the case filed against Lekić.

"... I would like to inform you that the proceedings are in the investigation phase. Based on an order from the Higher Prosecutor's Office, the case has been submitted to an economic expert. The expert examination has not been completed," they stated.

The State Election Commission (SEC) confirmed Lekić's parliamentary mandate the day before yesterday and sent a letter to the highest legislative house to state this.

According to the Constitution (Article 86), criminal proceedings cannot be initiated against a member of parliament, nor can he be detained without the approval of the highest legislative house, unless he is caught committing a criminal offense for which a penalty of more than five years in prison is prescribed.

There were more subjects in the SDT

The example of his party colleague Kovačević, who is a witness to the fact that the ruling majority could "hide" Lekić in the Parliament. The Administrative Committee of the Parliament, which decides on the lifting of immunity, did not discuss at all the request of the Podgorica Higher Prosecutor's Office to reject the criminal prosecution of Kovačević for the criminal offense of inciting national, racial and religious hatred. This parliamentary working body, headed by the Europe Now Movement (PES) MP Jelena Nedović, ignored the request of the Higher Prosecutor's Office for almost a year, despite its urgent requests.

Nedović repeatedly justified this by saying that they were waiting for the prosecution to submit an indictment against Kovačević. However, in order for the indictment to be filed, the criminal proceedings had to be completed, and they could not even begin until Kovačević's immunity was lifted.

The SDT has filed several cases in the past few years over business decisions and contracts made by Lekić while he was the head of RUP. He held that position from early 2021 to August 2023, and was dismissed after the Labor Inspectorate determined that he had been elected to the position in gross violation of the law, i.e. without a competition.

In May 2022, Lekić signed a contract with EPS to sell brown lignite coal to the company at a price of 28,8 euros excluding VAT. This was at a time when the Serbian energy system was paying Bosnia and Herzegovina for coal at a minimum price of 65 euros per ton. The Coal Mine said at the time that the coal had different calorific values and that the price could not be the same.

At the end of 2022, the SDT filed a case against Lekić based on a criminal complaint filed by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which claimed that he "by exploiting and exceeding the limits of his official position, concluded a harmful contract for the purchase and sale of brown lignite coal with EPS at a price of 28,80 euros, even though he knew that this was not the real price of coal"... Half a year later, the SDT opened an investigation due to suspicion that there had been abuse of official position in that deal, and in June 2023 and August last year, officers of the Special Police Department also took business documentation related to that deal from the Pljevlja company.

The SDT, from the same criminal complaint, also investigated allegations regarding the purchase of dump trucks (special trucks) from the Bosnian-Herzegovinian company "BPS Ugljevik" for 3,5 million euros excluding VAT, which, as claimed by the DPS, was a million euros higher than the price for the same vehicles purchased the year before.

Drunk driving multiple times

After leaving his position as director, it didn't take long for the first man in Pljevlja's NSD to return to a management position at RUP, as he was appointed a member and then president of the company's Board of Directors at the end of March last year. He resigned from that position in mid-October 2024 after crashing his official vehicle.

Lekić was also driving a company vehicle while drunk at the end of May last year. He was then stopped by the traffic police in Pljevlja, after which a breathalyzer test determined that he was driving with over one per mille of alcohol in his blood.

"Vijesti" was told yesterday by the Bijelo Polje Minor Offences Court that the NSD official had to pay a fine of 500 euros for this excess.

"... I inform you that a misdemeanor proceeding was conducted before this court against the defendant ML from Pljevlja for a misdemeanor under Article 318, paragraph 1, item 14 of the Road Traffic Safety Act for a misdemeanor committed on 25 May 5. The proceeding was completed on 2024 August 30 and the defendant was fined 8 euros, which he paid voluntarily," the newspaper wrote in its response.

Mandić: If Lekić is guilty, he should go to prison

The President of the Parliament and the NSD, Andrija Mandić, said in parliament in August last year that Lekić should go to prison if he is proven guilty.

DPS MP Oskar Huter previously said at a session of the highest legislative chamber that RUP had several controversial contracts while Lekić was at its helm.

"I call on the judiciary, the prosecution, and the State Audit Institution to establish all the facts. Because you are slandering one of the best directors in the history of RUP, without any evidence for it. This is already becoming disgusting," Mandić replied to Huter.

The first man in parliament then called on institutions to review the operations of RUP during Lekić's mandate.

"If Mijo Lekić is guilty, he should go to prison. You called out (former mayor of Budva) Milo Božović, saying that I betrayed him. I have not betrayed anyone, I think that the presumption of innocence that applied in the case of (Democratic People's Party leader) Milan Knežević and me in the 'coup d'état' case also applies in the case of Milo Božović," he said.

Throat in lavender

At the beginning of August 2024, less than three years after the first plantations were planted, RUP gave up on growing aromatic herbs - fields of lavender, thyme, sage and other aromatic herbs on the recultivated pit of the former cement factory in Pljevlja.

The RUP internal audit report then showed that the project was unprofitable.

The first seedlings were planted in early October 2021, while Lekić was managing the company.

Over a million euros were invested in the business - purchasing machinery, distillers, and hiring workers, but subsequent soil analyses showed that the Pljevlja climate was not suitable for plants, as in 2023 they managed to produce only three liters of essential oil.