An informal group of citizens, Protect the Prijepolje River, filed a criminal complaint against the PowerIT company from Subotica and its legal representative due to well-founded suspicions that they obtained the energy permit for the construction of a small hydroelectric plant in Velika Ploča by falsifying official documents.
In the application, which was submitted to the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kraljevo, it is stated that at least two official documents were forged and used without authorization during the issuance of the energy permit in March last year, with suspicion of omissions or involvement of employees of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, who issued the permit despite obvious irregularities.
The forged document was signed by a former employee
The Water Inspection, in its supervision, determined that the Water Conditions , attached to the request for the issuance of an energy permit, are not authentic. The document bears number 5528/3, dated March 11, 2024, and according to the official statement of JVP “Srbijavoda”, that document was never issued .
It is even more serious that the electronic signature on the fake Water Conditions was “taken” from an old document from 2019 and is attributed to a person who has not been employed by “Srbijavod” for more than four years, which indicates the suspicion that the signature was simply taken from the old document and “pasted” onto the new one using graphic processing.
Water conditions are dated March 20, while energy permit already issued on March 13 , seven days earlier – which clearly points to institutional failure or, potentially, complicity.
Another document was forged: The municipality claims that it never issued it
Another important document in this case, the so-called Location Information with the number 350-2/23 and the date March 11, 2022, was also forged . It was allegedly issued by the Municipal Administration of Prijepolje , but the Municipality itself officially announced that such a document was never issued for MHE Velika Ploča , nor was there a request for its issuance.
Moreover, it turned out that the document number and date were “borrowed” from a paper related to another river, at another location – MHE Zebuđa. In other words, the forgery was carried out by the copy-paste procedure, but with direct consequences for the legal validity of the permit.
Citizens demand the immediate cancellation of the illegal permit
Considering the gravity and seriousness of the reported crimes, the Protect the Prijepolje River group demands the immediate cancellation of the disputed energy permit , as well as the Prosecution to conduct a detailed investigation into who made it possible for the falsified documents to pass through the system – either through silence, negligence or direct participation.
Ratajska must not suffer the fate of Gračanica
It is particularly worrying that the MHP is planned on the Ratajska River, or as the locals call it Pustinja, whose catchment area is currently in the process of being declared a protected natural resource . The Institute for Nature Protection has already carried out an expert assessment of that area and assessed its high natural value, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection supported the protection of the river.
And right at this moment when it should become protected, someone tries to partition it and turn it into a pipe – with the help of fake documents.
Citizens expect that the court, in case of initiation of criminal proceedings, will act impartially and sanction all those responsible , both in the PowerIT company and in the competent state institutions that enabled the legalization of illegal documents.
The locals clearly warn: “If this is not prevented, Ratajska will experience the tragic fate of Gračanica – a river that disappeared forever in the pipes. We will not allow it!”