The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje has issued an order to conduct an expert examination in the field of mining and occupational safety, after the Secretary of the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development was previously questioned as a suspect in the case of issuing permits for the construction of a quarry at the "Poda" site. Armin Sijarić.
"AS was questioned as a suspect for the criminal offense of abuse of official position under Article 416, paragraph 1, and the criminal offense of negligent performance of duties under Article 417, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code of Montenegro." Several witnesses have been questioned so far," the ODT's response states.
In a response to Vijesti, the prosecutor's office said that they had been provided with the expert's findings, but did not provide any details.
"The investigation is still ongoing," the ODT's response reads at the end.
Sijarić, who was questioned following a criminal complaint filed by the residents of the Lozna Local Community and the NGO "Euromost", said that in the case of issuing permits for the construction of a quarry in Srđevac, all legal procedures were followed and that the secretariat was competent to issue approval for an environmental impact assessment.
However, the statement of the Environmental Protection Agency states that this institution was responsible for conducting an environmental impact assessment in the case of the construction of a quarry (exploitation of mineral raw materials, technical and construction stone) by the project holder "Imperijal" Ltd., and not the local Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development.
Following the Agency's statement, citizens of the Lozna Local Community announced a protest for November 16th at noon at the expansion along the Srđevac-Berane main road.
The residents of that and surrounding villages repeatedly blocked the roads, outraged by what they said was the illegal construction of the quarry, which was followed by a criminal complaint to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office, in which they claim that the company "Imperijal" is owned by Vojislav Smolović, brother of the mayor Petar Smolović, illegally obtained concessions and that the Municipality illegally issued a study on environmental impact assessment.
The Executive Director of "Imperial" Vojislav Smolović has repeatedly reiterated that all legal procedures have been carried out and that all necessary consents have been obtained in legally conducted procedures, as well as that the company has prepared all necessary documents and obtained all necessary permits for exploitation.
Locals have given up blocking the main road due to the ongoing reconstruction of the Ribarevine-Berane road.
Citizens' representative who has been fighting against the construction of the cameleon for years Jusuf Dervisevic said that the citizens had been fighting for several years and that the Agency's statement was a great satisfaction for their fight against the illegal construction of a quarry in the town of Poda.
"We have repeatedly pointed out all the illegalities in the quarry construction process. The main thing is that a public hearing was not held, for which we filed a lawsuit, and the hearing before the Administrative Court has already been scheduled for November 19. We have hired a team of lawyers and filed several criminal charges," said Dervišević.
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