Bijelo Polje: Public interest at risk, suspicion of corruption

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) has determined that there was a threat to the public interest, indicating the existence of corruption, during the formation of the Commission for the Evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the quarry at the Poda site, which was conducted by the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje.

Residents of Srđevac, Pod, and other villages have repeatedly protested against the quarry being built at that location by the company "Imperijal", owned by Vojislav Smolović, brother of the mayor Petar Smolović.

Among others, Secretary of the Secretariat for Rural Development Armin Sijarić and recently Danijela Lazarević, an employee of the Secretariat, were questioned as suspects for abuse of office at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office. Both claimed that they acted in accordance with the law and did not abuse their official position.

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, acting on a report from citizens of the "Lozna" local community, determined that there was a threat to the public interest, indicating the existence of corruption in the case of the formation of the Commission for the Evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the exploitation of technical and construction stone from the "Poda" deposit, recalling that the report from the locals was received in December last year.

The application of the Ministry of Local Government states that during the implementation of the procedure in question, the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development established a Commission whose task was to analyze and evaluate the study, and to prepare a Report on the proposal to the Secretariat for approval, but that certain members of the Commission did not meet the requirements stipulated by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, and therefore the approval of the Study is called into question.

"As prescribed by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, members of the Commission must have completed at least level VII-1 of the National Qualifications Framework and at least five years of professional work experience in certain environmental segments," the Lozna Local Community application states.

"The analysis of the documentation submitted to the Agency by the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development has determined that there is no evidence of meeting the requirements for membership in the Commission for as many as three members of the Commission, namely Slobodan Radović, Tatjana Perić and Sandra Ljumović, while the remaining three members meet the requirements for membership in the Commission. Also, because certain members of the Commission did not meet the requirements for membership in the Commission, it opens up room for doubt about the validity of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study," the opinion of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption states.

Citizen representative of the "Lozna" Local Community, Irma Hasanagić, states that for a year, the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development refused to provide citizens with evidence of the education and experience of the Commission members, and that it is now clear that this documentation was concealed for a long time because certain members did not meet the requirements for membership.

"Since the Secretariat formed an unprofessional Commission, it is obvious that such a Commission could not adequately respond to the task, that is, to conduct a professional, objective and expert analysis and assessment of the Study, which is why the adopted version of the Study contains a large amount of information that is untrue and does not correspond to the actual situation on the ground," said Hasanagić.

Hasanagić said that in the case of the criminal proceedings currently being conducted before the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje against responsible persons in the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development, she expects indictments to be filed against all responsible persons.

At the end of last year, the NGO "Euromost" that supported the locals reminds, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms determined that the Ministry of Mining and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje violated the citizens' right to a healthy environment, that they violated basic standards of public participation in the concession awarding process, and that the Municipality of Bijelo Polje had an obligation to timely inform the citizens of the Lozna Local Community about the planned exploitation, which the Municipality failed to do.

Also, the NGO points out that it is particularly alarming that the same persons who do not meet the requirements for membership in the Commission for the Evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Exploitation of Technical and Construction Stone from the "Poda" deposit were members of the commissions for the evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Exploitation of Technical and Construction Stone at the "Kurilo" deposit, for the concessionaire "Konstruktor Group" Ltd. and the "Bioča" deposit, for the concessionaire "Bemax" Ltd., and they demand an urgent response from the Prosecutor's Office on this matter.