Is the „energy lobby“ taking over the forests of Pljevlja?!

A report regarding suspected conflict of interest in the Board of Directors of the newly established state company for forest management, „Montenegro Forests“ was submitted to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption on February 24. The report warns that three out of four members of this body - Igor Vojinović, Ilija Krejović and Slaviša Lučić - are in a conflict of interest and therefore cannot be members of the Board of Directors.

After the ETV portal published an article on February 28 warning that members of the Board of Directors of this company were in a conflict of interest, citizens who had reported the case to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (ASK) contacted us and provided documentation they had submitted to this institution.

IF IT WERE NOT SAD, IT WOULD BE FUNNY

- The new company started its work by forming a Board of Directors that is not only connected through family relations, but even more through shared interests. We wrote about this to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption on February 24, 2026. By appointing these people to the Board of Directors, a clear intention is visible that problems in the forestry sector are not meant to be resolved, but that only interests are at stake - they told Portal ETV.

They also confirmed our information that Vojinović, Lučić, and Krejović are connected through family and godparent relationships.

- Slaviša Lučić and Ilija Krejović are owners and directors of the private companies Institute for Forestry and „Taxus Forest Project“ and are engaged in forest management planning. According to contracts, they have collected 2.4 million euros from the state over the past several years for these services. And imagine, they are now supposed to manage forests on behalf of the state and sit on the board of directors of the company that will cut those forests. If it were not sad, it would be funny - the ETV portal’s interlocutors said angrily.

They also claim that the appointment of Saša Bjeković to the Board of Directors of the state forestry management company was not accidental.

- Bjeković is the alpha and omega of the Europe Now Movement in Pljevlja, and the forests are important for the so-called energy lobby in this town, which is also mentioned by independent councilor Saša Ječmenica. By linking the Pljevlja Coal Mine and forestry, many „opportunities“ for various malpractices open up. According to our information, the plan is to engage surplus workers from the Coal Mine in the forestry sector and, by activating „Vektra Jakić“, take over the plundering of the forests of Pljevlja - our sources said categorically.

DOCUMENTATION SUBMITTED WITH THE REPORT

In the submission sent to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, they state that Igor Vojinović is employed in the Administration for Forest and Hunting Ground Management of Montenegro as the head of the Pljevlja regional unit.

- In the job systematization, for the position of head of the regional unit, among other competencies it is stated: „ensures the legality of work in the field of forest planning, cultivation, protection and use“. However, in the Statute of LLC „Montenegro Forests“, where he was elected as a member of the Board of Directors, responsibilities include „tree felling“ and „production of timber assortments“, as well as „marking trees for felling“ (Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 136/2025 of November 26, 2025 – Statute of LLC Montenegro Forests). Likewise, a civil servant appointed to a governing body (board of directors) of a public enterprise or state-owned company is not entitled to compensation (salary or board allowance) on that basis. However, Article 9 of the Statute of LLC „Montenegro Forests“ states that members of the Board of Directors are entitled to compensation in the amount of 40% of the average salary in the company. The Law on Forests also prescribes the competencies of both the Administration and the new company. Simply put, this man works in an administrative organization that should supervise and control the work of a new company, while at the same time sitting on the board of directors of that same company, receiving financial compensation - the submission to the Agency warned.

According to the report, Ilija Krejović (director of „Taxus Forest Project“) and Slaviša Lučić (director of the joint-stock company „Institute for Forestry“) have for many years been carrying out forest planning work for the Administration for Forest and Hunting Ground Management of Montenegro under contracts.

- By planning forests they can, in many ways, determine what should be cut and how. In that way they can directly influence the operations of the company whose Board of Directors they sit on. Conflict of interest: an official must not subordinate the public interest to private interest, nor use their position to obtain material gain. If the board decides on matters in which the official or a related person has a private interest, they must inform the other members and request recusal from the decision-making process - the report submitted to the Agency states.

They also attached several documents which, they say, clearly indicate conflicts of interest.

The ETV portal sent questions to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption regarding the status of this report.

JOKOVIĆ’S MINISTRY IGNORES QUESTIONS

In the article published on February 28, we wrote that four out of the five members of the Board of Directors of „Montenegro Forests“ are from Pljevlja - Igor Vojinović, head of the Pljevlja Regional Unit of the Forest Administration, Saša Bjeković, a firefighter-dispatcher in the Pljevlja Protection and Rescue Service, Ilija Krejović, executive director of „Taxus Forest Project“ from Pljevlja, and Petar Knežević, an employee of the Municipality of Pljevlja. The fifth member is Slaviša Lučić, executive director of the Institute for Forestry in Podgorica, who is connected through interests with some of the members.

Sources of ETV portal from Pljevlja said that members of the Board of Directors are intertwined through family, godparent, and friendship ties. Because of this serious conflict of interest, our interlocutors said, „every resident of Pljevlja knows they will not manage the company and Montenegro’s forests in the public interest, nor with the primary goal of protecting and restoring forests“.

- Igor Vojinović is the brother-in-law of Saša Bjeković, and Ilija Krejović is Vojinović’s best man at his wedding. In addition, Krejović is the brother-in-law of Slaviša Lučić, they married sisters, while Petar Knežević is Lučić’s godfather. That says enough. And if we know their business engagements in Montenegrin forestry, this is unacceptable - the Pljevlja citizens who contacted ETV portal said at the time.

We also wrote that by reviewing forest management contracts it can be seen that the companies owned by Lučić and Krejović, with joint bids, were for years selected as the most favorable bidders in tenders announced by the Forest Administration.

The article also recalled that Igor Vojinović, who was elected president of the Board of Directors of „Montenegro Forests“, had previously been the loudest opponent of establishing a state forestry management company. He claimed that such a company would destroy the forests of Pljevlja and that no one wanted the enterprise, which he said was „unsustainable and doomed to fail in advance“.

- Everyone understands that he was appointed to formally destroy the company and return forestry concessions similar to the concession of „Vektra Jakić“, which is in liquidation and looking for a buyer. In Pljevlja there is talk about investments from Serbia originating from dirty money that are targeting „Vektra Jakić“, while the town of Pljevlja would remain deprived of the millions owed to it by „Vektra“. Perhaps behind this lie the reasons for the artificially created crisis of power in Pljevlja - our interlocutors said.

As we previously reported, the start of operations of the state company for forest management will mark the end of the concession model that has caused enormous, probably irreparable damage to Montenegro’s forests.

The ETV portal had sent questions to the Government and the relevant ministry headed by Vladimir Joković regarding the criteria for selecting members of the Board of Directors of the state company that will manage the forests, as well as their conflict of interest, but to this day we have received no response.

We also asked Vojinović and Lučić, via the Viber application, among other things, about their family, godparent, and business ties with other members of the Board of Directors, but they also did not respond.