The Basic Court in Pljevlja will soon ask the Parliament of Montenegro to allow the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) functionaries Milan Lekić lift parliamentary immunity, so that the criminal prosecution of that parliamentarian can continue for the accident he caused while drunk last year.
"Vijesti" was told this yesterday by the Pljevlja court, where proceedings are being conducted against the new-old MP from the ruling NSD.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) of Pljevlja filed an indictment against Lekić in mid-May for endangering public traffic, after he crashed an official vehicle of the Pljevlja Coal Mine (RUP) in October last year, with a blood alcohol level of 1,22 per mille, causing extensive material damage.
"On 8 May 5, the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Pljevlja submitted to the Basic Court in Pljevlja an indictment against the defendant Lekić Milan from Pljevlja for the criminal offense of endangering public traffic under Article 2025, paragraph 339 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. The court, as the competent authority, will submit to the Parliament of Montenegro as soon as possible a request for approval to initiate criminal proceedings against the defendant," the Basic Court told the newspaper.
For causing the accident, Lekić was fined 750 euros, three penalty points and a protective measure of a three-month driving ban by a judge at the Bijelo Polje Misdemeanor Court, and he then resigned as president of the RUP Board of Directors.
Lekić was also caught driving a company vehicle while drunk at the end of May last year. For this, he was fined 500 euros.
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The leader of the Pljevlja-based NSD returned to the parliamentary benches last week, where he will succeed Marko Kovačević who recently resigned due to incompatibility of functions, namely because he was re-elected as the leader of Nikšić.
Lekić: I want the case resolved as soon as possible
When asked whether he would call on his government colleagues to lift his immunity to prevent obstructions like in the case of his party colleague Kovačević, Lekić told "Vijesti" that he would not "invite immunity" and that he expected an acquittal.
"I think I'm right. It's true that I made a mistake. I was drunk that night, my blood alcohol level was 1,22 per mille. But as for the cause of the traffic accident, I'm not at fault. I expect an acquittal from the court... I didn't expect, after so much media pressure, including you as a company waging a negative campaign against me, that the prosecution would have any power without a court to acquit me...", he said.
When asked by journalists that the decision to lift immunity could only be made by a vote in the Assembly, after the Administrative Committee gives the "green light", Lekić reiterated that he would not "invite immunity", but that he would not ask his colleagues from the parliamentary majority to lift his protection.
"I will not invoke myself, and if I personally request (the lifting of immunity) - I will not do that... It seems to me that, in any case, the court and the prosecutor's office can conduct this procedure on certain matters, until the moment when the MP invokes immunity. When it comes to that stage, I will not invoke immunity - I will let it go. And I am even interested in this being resolved as soon as possible, because I am sure that I am not guilty," he told "Vijesti".
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.
The Administrative Committee did not discuss at all the request of the Podgorica Higher Prosecutor's Office to reject the criminal prosecution of Lekić's predecessor Kovačević for the criminal offense of inciting national, racial and religious hatred. This parliamentary working body, headed by a member of parliament from the Europe Now Movement 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.
Why is everything under the scrutiny of investigators?
In the past few years, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) has formed several cases due to business decisions made by Lekić while he was the head of RUP, which were then consolidated and submitted to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje.
The Bijelo Polje Higher Prosecutor's Office told "Vijesti" last week that an economic expert is still investigating the case filed against Lekić.
He served as the Executive Director of RUP from the beginning of 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.
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 Elektroprivreda Srbije at a price of 28,80 euros, even though he knew that this was not the real price of coal”. This happened 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 these were different calorific values of coal and that the price could not be the same.
Six months later, the SDT opened an investigation due to suspicions of abuse of official position in that business, and in June 2023 and August last year, officers of the Special Police Department also seized business documentation related to that business from the Pljevlja company.
The prosecutor's office, based on 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.
Lekić: I punished myself and resigned over a small matter
Lekić told Vijesti that he "paid the guild" for the accident and resigned from his position at RUP.
"I almost punished myself. I felt, as they say, a responsible, serious man. Few people in Montenegro have done that, for such a small thing, in my opinion. There was no damage. Come on, officially. But that car, that I destroyed - it can be bought on the market today for no more than five, six thousand euros. People have destroyed and are destroying, both consciously and unconsciously," he said.
He claims that the media blamed him before the trial.
"But it doesn't bother me - I'm going for the long haul. I'm confident in myself, that I know I'm doing the right thing and that everything will be fine," said Lekić.
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