The reaction of the Chief Special Prosecutor, Milivoje Katnić, to the investigative story of MANS came down to meaningless words by which he failed to deny the fact that his family was building illegally and usurping state land.
By referring to the alleged threat to safety and guessing the motives of the MANS’ investigation, Katnić wants to cover up very specific criminal offenses in the commission of which he himself participated.
The investigation showed that the Katnić family acquired this property during the technical mandate of the previous government, and that the assessment was made by Dragan Kovačević, who is currently on the run after accusations of abuse of office and creation of a criminal organization.
It is interesting that Katnić does not doubt the estimates of the value of state plots made by Kovačević, but he even uses them in an attempt to explain why he bought plots from the state below the price.
The data we used while drafting the investigative story are public documents, obtained on the basis of the Law on Free Access to Information, while orthophotos of Katnić’s usurpation and illegal construction can be found on the official Geoportal of the Cadastre and State Property Administration, as well as on Google maps.
This information is public, available to everyone, even to criminal groups which, in Katnić’s interpretation, are allegedly waiting for the MANS’ drone in order to endanger his safety.
This “operational” logic of Milivoje Katnić is not something we encounter for the first time, and its effectiveness is evidenced by the results in the fight against corruption and organized crime. However, perhaps for the first time we see it in the service of Katnić’s interest in avoiding responsibility for committing criminal acts, and illegal construction and illegal usurpation of state land are definitely that.
From today’s reaction, it is completely clear that Milivoje Katnić does not want to accept the fact that his privacy cannot be more important than the public interest in revealing criminal offenses. This is especially true when there is a suspicion that their actors are precisely those who should be at the forefront of the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Dejan Milovac
Investigative Centre
MANS
