Ex-director claims he “prevented pillage” in coal mine

BELGRADE Former coal strip mining company Kolubara Director Nebojsa Ceran has stated that he prevented a pillage in the company. Serbia's Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic on Thursday accused the Kolubara company of being "mired in crime and corruption". Ex-director claims he “prevented pillage” in coal mine She added that a probe has been launched due to suspicion that damage worth several millions of euros had been incurred to the company. Mihajlovic told a press conference that Kolubara paid salaries "to non-existent persons", and that the number of these payments to fictitious employees ranged "from 1,000 to 1,500". Commenting on the accusations, the then Kolubara director and member of the Democratic Party (DS) Main Board, sent a statement to the media on Friday instead of holding a press conference. Ceran claims that he prevented a pillage worth more than EUR 100mn during three years in the company. According to him, a lease of privately-owned machines would cost EUR 100mn, as it was done for years before he came to the company. “In accordance with a 2007 decision of Vojislav Kostunica’s government, an expropriation of the entire village of Vreoci was done. The program was adopted despite the fact that the expropriation zone did not cover the entire village because the local residents demanded in earlier attempts, protests and blockades that the relocation apply to everybody. A justification for the citizens' request was based on the relocation of a cemetery where work was first supposed to be done and on ecological risks for parts of the village that would possibly happen after coal seams were expanded and new were opened,” his statement reads. According to the former Kolubara director, the Serbian government decided to pay all households a 35-percent advance and that the rest of the money would be paid the year when the expropriation would be done. He added that Kolubara’s experts appraised the value of households. “Thanks to the fact that the village was efficiently expropriated and the Vreoci cemetery was relocated, Kolubara will this year have an opportunity to dig 3 million tons of coal from the cemetery zone and that way prevent import of electricity and save from EUR 80mn to EUR 100mn. The Vreoci zone has at least 350 million tons of coal which means that Kolubara will from the area in the next decades exploit coal that will, once it has been turned into electricity, allow the country’s energy stability and the value of the electricity will be at least EUR 10bn,” Ceran stressed. He claims that the company had 900 workers less when he left than when he had taken over the company and that the company operated positively for three years. “I encouraged employees to implement an anti-corruption business policy but if someone obtained gain in thousands of public procurements and thousands of expropriations, of course they should be held responsible,” Ceran concluded in the release. Nebojsa Ceran (Tanjug, file) B92

Ex-director claims he “prevented pillage” in coal mine

She added that a probe has been launched due to suspicion that damage worth several millions of euros had been incurred to the company.

Mihajlović told a press conference that Kolubara paid salaries "to non-existent persons", and that the number of these payments to fictitious employees ranged "from 1,000 to 1,500".

Commenting on the accusations, the then Kolubara director and member of the Democratic Party (DS) Main Board, sent a statement to the media on Friday instead of holding a press conference.

Ćeran claims that he prevented a pillage worth more than EUR 100mn during three years in the company. According to him, a lease of privately-owned machines would cost EUR 100mn, as it was done for years before he came to the company.

“In accordance with a 2007 decision of Vojislav Koštunica’s government, an expropriation of the entire village of Vreoci was done. The program was adopted despite the fact that the expropriation zone did not cover the entire village because the local residents demanded in earlier attempts, protests and blockades that the relocation apply to everybody. A justification for the citizens' request was based on the relocation of a cemetery where work was first supposed to be done and on ecological risks for parts of the village that would possibly happen after coal seams were expanded and new were opened,” his statement reads.

According to the former Kolubara director, the Serbian government decided to pay all households a 35-percent advance and that the rest of the money would be paid the year when the expropriation would be done.

He added that Kolubara’s experts appraised the value of households.

“Thanks to the fact that the village was efficiently expropriated and the Vreoci cemetery was relocated, Kolubara will this year have an opportunity to dig 3 million tons of coal from the cemetery zone and that way prevent import of electricity and save from EUR 80mn to EUR 100mn. The Vreoci zone has at least 350 million tons of coal which means that Kolubara will from the area in the next decades exploit coal that will, once it has been turned into electricity, allow the country’s energy stability and the value of the electricity will be at least EUR 10bn,” Ćeran stressed.

He claims that the company had 900 workers less when he left than when he had taken over the company and that the company operated positively for three years.

“I encouraged employees to implement an anti-corruption business policy but if someone obtained gain in thousands of public procurements and thousands of expropriations, of course they should be held responsible,” Ćeran concluded in the release.