The Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) filed a criminal complaint against an NGO for intimidation, after, by providing them with a response to a request for free access to information, from the company "Zeta Energy", from Danilovgrad, an elderly man employed by that NGO, among other things , said "you should not deal with these things and this business, fight these businesses, that is your way of extorting money".
CEGAS, for the purposes of research through the project "Public enterprises under the supervision of civil society", sent requests for free access to information to the addresses of 176 out of 177 public enterprises, including "Zeta Energy".
With the request, CEGAS asked to be provided with information on the total number of employees in that company, as of December 31, 2023, and internal documents.
From "Zeta Energy", a company whose 51 percent owner is Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), on February 26, they delivered the answer via e-mail, without the signature of an authorized person, and two days later, an anonymous person personally brought an identical solution to the office. and NGOs.
On that occasion, as stated in the criminal complaint, and as the executive director of CEGAS, Marija Popović Kalezić, informed those responsible in "Zeta Energy", as well as the Ministry of Finance and Minister Novica Vuković, they experienced an "unpleasant experience to the extent of intimidation and insolence behavior".
"NGO CEGAS [was] visited by a person, described by colleague Jovana Božović, who at that moment was the only one at work, aged around 60 years, height around 190, who entered the premises without knocking or ringing the bell, throwing away the envelope containing response to the request for free access to information, identical to the one you sent in the email, without the signature of the authorized person in the legal entity, with the question 'What do you do, who is your director?', without wanting to introduce himself, adding the following 'do not need to deal with these things and this business, fight these businesses, that is your way of extorting money'. Without a presentation, delivery note and receipt book, we cannot claim that it is your employee, but it is important, for the sake of reputation and publicity, to explain this situation, as well as who the person is, who had the answer to the Freedom of Information Request in their possession 'Zeta energy' to Danilovgrad", stated Popović Kalezić in a letter delivered to the Danilovgrad company and the Ministry of Finance.
"Zeta Energy" has a license for the production of electricity, valid until October 13, 2025. According to data from the "Regulatory Agency for Energy and Regulated Utilities" website, the Danilovgrad company is exercising the right to incentive measures until September 2032, for the reconstructed production facility of the small hydropower plant (MHP) Slap Zeta.
"Vijesti" sent questions regarding the report submitted by CEGAS to the Police Directorate, "Zeta Energy" and Elektroprivreda. The police said that they identified the person, collected information from him, and informed the state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica about everything.
"...Which pleaded that there are no elements of a criminal act. After that, the victim Božović approached the official premises of the Podgorica Security Department and gave up the report, asked that the reported person be warned, which was done," the police responded.
EPCG replied that they are the majority owner of the Danilovgrad company, but that the answer is not within their jurisdiction.
"EPCG is the 51 percent owner of the company 'Zeta Energy', however this subsidiary company is organized as a limited liability company, which means that they have their own management bodies, which are responsible for answering your questions," they told "Vijesta".
The company "Zeta Energy" did not answer the questions of "Vijesti". CEGAS was not given any answers to the queries either.
"In these cases, can we remain without an official reaction from EPCG and the Ministry of Finance? We had an unofficial reaction of apology from the executive director of 'Zeta energy' d.o.o. Danilovgrad, while we did not receive any response from the majority owner of EPCG. We will certainly not give up on the request for SPI, and we will also seek answers to the questions, based on which decisions numerous companies were founded, who manages the state capital and to whom the work report is submitted, and no less important, who controls the veracity of those reports", she said. "Vijesta" executive director of that NGO.
Popović Kalezić also asked "whether EPCG is responsible for the way of doing business of its employees in "EPCG Group".
"About which the public was informed in detail, within the Consolidated Financial Statement for 2022 in accordance with the accounting regulations of Montenegro and the independent auditor's report, in the official document of Elektroprivreda Crne Gore AD Nikšić, she said.
In the statement mentioned by Popović Kalezić, in the part related to personnel policy, among other things, it is stated that in 2022, in the group consisting of EPCG, CEDIS, Rudnik uglja AD "Pljevlja", "Zeta Energy", EPCG Belgrade and EPCG-Solar construction, a total of 4.210 workers were engaged, not including work contracts.
"By continuously investing in the development of human resources, EPCG strives to ensure the readiness of its employees to respond to challenges in daily business, while contributing to its improvement. In 2022, the parent company paid special attention to the training and education of employees...", the document says.
Popović Kalezić said that in such structures there is no equal level of control from the state.
"That is, he does not exist. It is clear that companies that have state capital must be obliged to respond to SPI, by the Law on SPI, and then by the Law on Prevention of Corruption, for the obligation to provide information as well as the necessary control in case of detection of corrupt activity, along with the implementation of anti-corruption measures," she said. Popović Kalezić, commenting on the response of the company "Zeta Energy" that they submitted to the request for SPI, that they are not in a position to respond to the request and that "Zeta Energy", as they stated, "is not a government body, because it does not exercise public authority, nor manages the public fund....".
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