On January 19, the Directorate for Inspection Affairs of Montenegro (UIP) filed a criminal complaint against the Directorate for Management of Forests and Hunting Grounds (former Directorate for Forests), due to excessive logging in Rožaje during the 2020 election year. The basis for this was the result of an inspection carried out at the initiative of MANS. At that time, he managed the Forestry Administration (UZŠ). Nusret Kalac, a long-time official of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
The inspection, initiated by MANS, showed that during 2020, the Forestry Administration in Rožaje cut down three times more conifers than was foreseen in the plan for that year. The inspection was carried out by forestry inspectors in December 2021 Milutin Vukić i Zufer Sijarić.
In the election year, at least 8.200 cubic meters of conifers were cut down for residents of rural areas, almost 6.000 cubic meters more than planned.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management confirmed for CIN-CG that in Rožaje that year only 2.425 cubic meters of conifers were planned to be harvested for the local population.
Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Milan Gazdić, forestry engineer by profession, for CIN-CG says that this forest damage is measured in millions of euros.
"My free estimate is that the environmental damage from this illegal logging is five to seven million euros, while the economic damage is from around half a million to 700 thousand euros," says Gazdić.
Although the inspection was carried out in December 2021, the Directorate for Inspection Affairs filed a criminal complaint against the Directorate for Forest and Hunting Management only now, after numerous questions from CIN-CG about this case. The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Rožaje confirmed to CIN-CG that the investigation began on January 19.
Recently appointed acting assistant director of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, Darko Rašović, who coordinates the work of the forestry inspection, told CIN-CG that the criminal complaint should have been filed last year.
"Forestry inspectors found a number of irregularities during the inspection that did not have the characteristics of a misdemeanor, but a criminal offense. "After learning that the case is not yet in the prosecutor's office, the Directorate for Inspection Affairs filed a criminal complaint," Rašović said.
According to him, the Forestry Administration, as the aggrieved body, should have filed a criminal complaint.
CIN-CG spoke with several sources from the forestry sector of Montenegro, who wish to remain anonymous, and who claim that excessive logging in Rožaj was part of a vote-buying program before the 2020 elections. 82.000 euros, which means that a cubic meter of wood was worth about 11 euros - many times less than the market price.
A series of criminal acts were committed
He was the head of the Rožaje regional unit at the time Remzo Ibrahimovic. Research by CIN-CG points to the suspicion that Ibrahimović and the then head of the Forestry Administration, Nusret Kalač, grossly violated the Law on Forests, that the documentation is dubious and that the felling was carried out without the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, which he headed at the time Milutin Simovic (DPS).
After the inspection, Ibrahimović filed a complaint in which he referred to a series of documents, which allegedly show that the disputed fellings are legal.
CIN-CG obtained this documentation through the MANS application for free access to information "Ask the Institutions". The documentation for this operation was signed by Ibrahimović and Kalač. Research by CIN-CG shows that the documents could not be a cover for excessive logging.
Nusret Kalač signed two authorizations for logging of almost 2.000 cubic meters. According to the documents, this is the so-called sanitary felling, i.e. wood that must be removed due to damage caused by fire, drought, and the like.
According to the Law on Forests of Montenegro, when logging of this type is carried out, it is necessary to adopt a so-called rehabilitation plan, which is adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture. That did not happen in 2020.
"In the course of 2020, the Directorate for Forest Management did not initiate the adoption of a forest rehabilitation plan according to the Ministry", they told CIN-CG from the Ministry of Agriculture.
CIN-CG also asked Gazdić for a comment.
"I am not familiar with the specific case, but if so, it is a gross violation of the Forestry Act. Remediation plans are the best way to remediate damage and are there to be followed. Anyone who breaks the law must be held accountable,'' he told CIN-CG.
He suspects that the Forestry Administration falsified the data
Another document that Ibrahimović refers to in the objection is the implementation report, which shows how much wood was cut for the needs of the local population in 2020. According to that report, the cutting of over 8.000 cubic meters is legal. However, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed for CIN-CG that this amount of felling could not have been done, which indicates that Ibrahimović is referring to a document that was not approved by the Ministry.
The problem is that the document is from December 2021, when the inspection was done. However, such a report had to be prepared and adopted by the Ministry no later than March 2021.
The Administration of CIN-CG submitted a document sent to the Ministry by Kalač in January 2021, which shows that almost twice as much forest was cut in Rožaje than it says in the report of the Regional Unit of Rožaje, to which Ibrahimović refers. All this raises the suspicion that the figures for the Ministry are falsified.
More documents confirm that the data on the operations of the Rožaje Regional Unit, adopted by the Ministry, are not correct. The report on the work of the Forestry Administration for 2020, which was adopted by the Ministry, shows that during 2020, trees were cut in Rožaje in 118 so-called forest divisions. However, the inspection showed that it was cut into almost 200 departments, just for the needs of the local population.
CIN-CG contacted Kalac about this case. He said that he had heard that a criminal complaint had been filed, but that no one had contacted him yet and that the leadership of the Regional Unit there was responsible for everything that happened in Rožaje.
The former head of the Rožaje Regional Unit, Remzo Ibrahimović, told CIN-CG that he was aware of the criminal complaint. He claims that he did everything according to the law, and that he tried to bring order to PJ Rožaje.
"As the head of PJ, I could not have an insight into who was cutting and how much. That is the job of the people who work on the field," said Ibrahimović.
First they cut illegally, then they changed their cutting plans
Through the MANS application "Ask the Institutions", CIN-CG came to the rebalancing of the plan of PJ Rožaje for the sale of wood to the local population for 2020.
Rebalancing is a change of plan and had to be done before felling. The rebalancing, however, is dated 14.12. 2020, when the harvesting season is largely over and the damage has already been done. Rebalancing was adopted only by PJ Rožaje, not by higher-level authorities.
The rebalancing of the plan for the allocation of firewood and technical wood to the local population had to be adopted by the Forestry Administration, with the consent of the Ministry, Darko Rašović tells CIN-CG.
In his complaint, Ibrahimović states that the rebalance was submitted for adoption in Pljevlje, but there is no confirmation that it was adopted.
Rašović said that all disputed documents will be forwarded to the prosecution.
CIN-CG addressed the Directorate for Forest and Hunting Management regarding the disputed documentation. That body informed us that after the question of CIN-CG, a commission was formed to examine the documentation in order to provide "comprehensive answers", which we still did not receive. They said that they could not comment in more detail "while the reconnaissance procedure is in progress".
Srdjan Pejović, the recently dismissed director of the Forestry Administration, told CIN-CG that he dismissed Ibrahimović from the position of director of PJ Rožaja at the beginning of last year due to the results of the inspection initiated by MANS.
The Ministry of Agriculture told CIN-CG that during 2021 they reacted to the increased sale of wood to the local population, and that the results of the Forestry Administration in 2020 were the basis for Kalač to be removed from the position of director. Then the Ministry filed a criminal complaint against Kalač for dealing with forest concessions. In January of this year, the Association of Small Wood Processors from Plav also filed a criminal complaint against him, also due to suspicion of abuse of official position in dealing with concessions.
Chaos in records
Although in forestry, detailed plans are made for felling by so-called forest departments, the inspection supervision initiated by MANS shows that the plans are not respected at all.
Thus, wood felling for the local population was carried out in almost 200 forest divisions in Rožaje instead of the planned 97.
Although the rule is that felling in one forest division is done once every ten years, the papers show that some divisions in Rožaje were entered more than once in 2020 alone.
In addition, the employees in charge of logging records do not provide all the necessary data, according to the inspection report.
During the inspection, employees of PJ Rožaje explain that a certain amount of wood was used for the construction of a bridge on the Ibar River. However, there is no evidence or documentation about this, claims the Forestry Administration.
Failure to follow plans is a disaster for forests
"I believe that the cutting of forests in Montenegro pays off only for a small group of people who have been satisfying their needs for years without caring about the situation," says Gazdić for CIN-CG.
Failure to comply with felling plans causes enormous damage, such as soil erosion and flooding, explains Gazdić.
"Those who cut forests forget that the main function of forests is protection. These include water regulation, protection against erosion and wind, but also the protection of numerous species that make forests their home,'' he says.
Although mostly financial damages are counted in Montenegro, the environmental damage, he adds, is usually ten times greater.
He explains that economic damage refers exclusively to the financial loss from the sale of wood, while environmental damage includes numerous long-term consequences such as soil erosion.
"According to some research, it takes more than 80 years to restore the function of forest land after damage. 2.000 euros are needed for the artificial raising and growing of the forest on the destroyed hectare. Climate changes and severe summer droughts affect young seedlings, so it is very difficult to raise a new forest now. I got acquainted with the situation in forestry in almost all EU countries and I can say with certainty that the situation in forestry in Montenegro is very bad,'' he claims.
According to him, the appearance of forest divisions after felling shows that chaos reigns, and not only in Rožaje.
"Every year, biologists working to establish the Natura 2000 network of protected areas send pictures of catastrophic logging from all parts of the country," he says.
That conditions are not bad only in Rožaje is confirmed by the information that a criminal complaint was recently filed due to excessive exploitation of forests in Berane.
Now it is up to the judiciary to answer why so many trees were cut down in the election year, whether the votes of the local population were bought in this way and how much damage this kind of management of valuable resources brings to society.
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