The French company Ezis and the consortium of Chinese companies CRIC - CCCC, led by the China Railway International Company, guaranteed the safety of passengers in the part of the railway station in Novi Sad where the canopy is located, according to documents published exclusively by "Vreme".
"Vreme" obtained documents that reveal the background to the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad.
What does the correspondence between Slobodanka Katanić, the manager of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure company, which is on the indictment of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, and the Chinese contractors regarding the opening of part of the station in July 2024 say?
The international commercial contract on the reconstruction of the Belgrade - Subotica railway line, Article 2.1.29 states that rail traffic on the Novi Sad - Subotica section "will be completely closed during construction works, not including the Novi Sad and Subotica railway stations".
During the reconstruction of the railway, these two railway stations were at the same time a construction site, but also functional facilities open to the flow of passengers. The construction permit project that passed the technical control of the Cestra company and the audit of the State Audit Commission, and which was prepared by the Chinese partner on the basis of the Contract, provided for the phases in which the Novi Sad Railway Station will be reconstructed, that is, how the flow of passengers will be directed.
THE CHINESE ARE INFORMING - THE STATION IS SAFE FOR PASSENGERS
After the works on the decoration, reconstruction and adaptation of wing B were completed, on June 11, 2024, the Chinese contractor sent a submission to Slobodanka Katanić (later arrested by order of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade) as a representative of the Investor, in which he "informs the investor that the works necessary for the safe movement of passengers in the lobby of wing 'B' of the Novi Sad station building" have been completed, and submits a request for internal admission by JSC "Infrastruktur železnice Srbije". The letter states that after the internal reception, passengers will be able to use the lobby and all its contents. The contractor states that the transfer of passengers to the vestibule of wing "B" is a condition for the start of work on the ground floor arrangement in front of wing "A", and according to the international contract on the basis of which the modernization and reconstruction of this railway was carried out (see Document no.. 4). By the way, the commercial contract with Chinese contractors on the reconstruction of the Novi Sad - Subotica railway line was signed in 2018 on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Serbia by then relevant minister Zorana Mihajlović.
A day later, on June 12, 2024, expert supervision, i.e. the head of expert supervision on behalf of the company Project Biro Utiber - Dragan Gligorov - informs the contractor that the supervision confirms receipt of the request and approves the contractor's request for internal reception of wing "B" (see Document no.. 5). On the same day, the investment manager of the railway infrastructure, Slobodanka Katanić, passed a resolution establishing a Commission for the internal reception of the "B" lobby at the Novi Sad railway station, composed of representatives of IŽS a.d. and Srbijavoza a.d., whose task was to determine possible deficiencies before the actual handover, in order to enable passengers to use the "B" wing lobby and all its contents. Manager Katanić informed the main contractor and expert supervision about the formation of the committee for the internal reception of the wing "B" lobby, as well as the date scheduled for the internal reception - June 14, 2024 is indicated in the letter (see Document no.. 1).
Slobodanka Katanić, who is in custody at the request of the Belgrade Prosecutor's Office, said in her statement as a witness before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad on December 6, 2024, that "no one personally ordered her to form a committee for the internal reception of the lobby of wing 'B'", but "she formed it solely on the basis of the request of the Contractor and the proposal of the Investment Sector". (see Document no.. 6)
DOCUMENT NUMBER 3
The internal reception committee performed an internal inspection of the vestibule of wing "B" and noted the observed defects that have nothing to do with the canopy, and drew up the minutes of the internal inspection committee with a list of observed defects. On June 21, 2024, Slobodanka Katanić informed the main contractor and expert supervision in a new letter that on June 14, 2024, the internal commission had noticed a number of deficiencies and gave the contractor seven days to eliminate these deficiencies.
Slobodanka Katanić's letter also states the following: "After reception, passengers would be able to use the lobby of wing 'B' in accordance with the plans for further renovation of the space in front of wing 'A" of the station building".see Document no.. 3)
On July 2, 2024, the Chinese contractor informed Slobodanka Katanić that all the deficiencies observed by the internal commission had been resolved and submitted a request for the handover of wing "B" of the Novi Sad station.
On the same day, July 2, 2024, the investor informed the main contractor and expert supervision that he approves the request for the handover of wing "B", and announces that the handover will take place on July 3, 2024 at 10:XNUMX a.m.
The next day, July 3, 2024, the investor informed the main contractor and expert supervision that the handover of the lobby of wing "B" will be held on July 4, 2024 at 10 a.m.
Why the handover was not carried out on July 3, 2024, is not clear from the memo. According to "Vremena" sources, the expert supervision did not come to the site on July 3, so the internal reception was postponed to July 4, when representatives of the internal commission, representatives of contractors and representatives of expert supervision were present.
BY INTERNAL RECEIVING PART OF THE STATION FROM 4. JULY 2024. YEARS CONFIRMED SECURITY OF THE STATION
The internal reception was held on July 4, 2024, when the Minutes for the handover of the lobby of wing "B" of the Novi Sad station were signed. The minutes were signed by the Chinese contractor, expert supervision and the investor. In the third paragraph of the Minutes for the handover of the wing "B" lobby, it is stated:
"This record confirms that the lobby in wing 'B' of the Novi Sad station building can be used for passengers". (see Document no.. 2)
Two weeks ago, "Vreme" published the page of the Construction Diary dated July 4, 2024, which was signed by Zorica Slavković Marjanović in the capacity of contractor, and signed and stamped by Marina Gavrilović in the capacity of supervisor. In the Description of work part, it is stated that the following works were performed: cleaning of the space in wing "B" before the handover, and painting of the drip tray of wing "B" and the terrace of wing "C". In the note in the part of the description of the works, the sentence is stated: "In the presence of representatives of the Investor and Supervision, an inspection of the premises in wing 'B' was carried out, of which a corresponding record was made. This created the conditions for opening wing 'B' for the use of passengers".
On July 4, the Infrastruktur Železnice Srbije company already acted on the basis of this report on the handover, so during the hearing on December 3, 2024, commission member Aleksandar Krstić said that "the purpose of this review was to transfer the ticket offices and waiting rooms from the 'A' wing of the Novi Sad Railway Station to the 'B' wing, so that the 'A' wing could be reconstructed." (...) "After this inspection, on July 4, 7, wing B started working, that is, passengers started using the cash desks and using the entire 'B' wing, but I don't know the exact date of the start of work, whether it was on that same day, July 2024, 4."
During his testimony on December 4, 2024, Luka Božić, the president of the Commission for Internal Reception, said that "the purpose of the handover was to redirect passengers from wing 'A' to wing 'B', because in wing 'A' ground floor arrangements were to be made".
Member of the Commission for Internal Reception, Veselin Simović, said that the goal of this handover "was to close wing 'A' after the reception of lobby 'B' so that it would be possible to work on the ground floor arrangement and so that passengers can use wing B". Simović then said that the station had to be put into operation and that there was no visit by the Prime Minister of AP Vojvodina, Maja Gojković, and Minister Goran Vesić: "It would have to be put into operation (the railway station, op "Vremena") in order to carry out work on wing 'A', and before that I said that the whole station had to be worked on in stages".
Predrag Predojević, a responsible person in the company "Srbijavoz" ad, told the Novi Sad prosecutor's office that "the cash desks where train tickets were sold were first in the corridor of the 'A' wing because the reconstruction of the 'B' wing was to be carried out" and that he remembers that "on July 4, 7, he received a letter from Žarko Simović, head of the section for traffic and commercial affairs in the AD Srbijavoz, that the card machines and cash registers should be moved to wing 'B'".
WHY IS SLOBODANKA KATANIĆ RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING?
The documentation that "Vreme" exclusively publishes shows that Slobodanka Katanić, the manager of Infrastruktura železnica Srbije a.d., against whom the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade filed an indictment, in a similar way as she took over lobby 'B' and enabled passengers to use this part of the station, performed internal acceptance of works for tracks, that is, switches and parts of the railway, through representatives of IŽS. The above was obviously a common practice, due to the dynamics of the construction of line infrastructure facilities, and the examples are numerous.
According to the available documentation, Chinese contractors, French supervision and Slobodanka Katanić on behalf of the investors guaranteed that lobby "B" is safe for use by passengers. A few months earlier, a falsified permit for trial work was issued, which "Vreme" exclusively published, in which, on behalf of the investor, Katanić also participated. This is the basis of the indictment against Katanić and two other persons, which the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade submitted to the High Court in Belgrade, and which, by the decision of the Supreme Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac, is now in the hands of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
1. Letter from the contractor CRIC – CCCC Joint Venture dated June 11, 2024
2. Letter from the head of expert supervision, Dragan Gligorov, dated June 12, 2024
3. Letter from Slobodanka Katanić dated June 12, 2024
4. Decision on the establishment of a joint commission for the internal reception of wing "B" at the Novi Sad Railway Station from June 12, 2024
5. Minutes of the examination of the witness Slobodanka Katanić from December 6, 2024, before the Criminal Court Novi Sad posl. no. KTI 160/24, p. 7, paragraph 5, line 2-6.
6. Letter from Slobodanka Katanić dated June 21, 2024
7. Letter from the contractor CRIC – CCCC Joint Venture dated July 2, 2024
8. Letter from the investor, Slobodanka Katanić indicated as the sender, dated July 2, 2024
9. Letter from the Investor, Slobodanka Katanić indicated as the sender, dated July 3, 2024
10. Request for handover of the lobby of wing B of the Novi Sad station from July 4, 2024
11. Construction diary of July 4, 2024
12. Minutes of the examination of the witness Aleksandar Krstić from December 3, 2024, in front of the Novi Sad Criminal Court, posl. no. KTI 160/24, p. 3, paragraph 3, line 14-16; p. 4, paragraph 2, line 5-7
13. Minutes of the examination of the witness Luka Božić from December 4, 2024 before the VJT Novi Sad posl. no. KTI 160/24, p. 3, paragraph 2, line 18-19
14. Minutes of the examination of the witness Veselin Simović from December 3, 2024 before the Novi Sad Criminal Court posl. no. KTI 160/24, p. 5, paragraph 3, line 20-21; p. 8 paragraph 6
15. Record of the examination of the witness Predrag Predojević from December 12, 2024 before the VJT Novi Sad post. no. KTI 160/24, p. 3, paragraph 2, line 3-7.
16. Agreement on the use of public railway infrastructure between AD Infrastruktur Železnica Srbije and AD "Srbijavoz" for the years 2023 and 2024, which confirms that the Novi Sad railway station was operating during the reconstruction
17. Record of the performed internal technical inspection of works on the track for Aleksandrovo on June 28, 6
18. Minutes of the internal technical inspection of works on the Senta-Subotica railway section on July 3, 7
19. Record of the internal technical inspection of the 11th track at the Subotica passenger station on November 1, 11
20. Record of the internal technical inspection of the tracks and switches at the Subotica passenger station and the Subotica freight station on September 29, 9
This text does not prejudge the further course of criminal proceedings, nor does it in any way impute the responsibility of any person, nor does it designate any person as the perpetrator of a criminal act. It was created by processing documents and information that are publicly available. The sole purpose of this text is to describe part of the activities of the competent authorities in the procedure so far and to present the findings so far regarding the fall of the canopy, which is a matter for which there is increased public interest.
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