The Municipal Court in Zenica decided to prolong the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against Nova Željezara Zenica and to temporarily prohibit the disposal of the company’s assets for at least the next 30 days.
In the meantime, information about the debts of this company has reached the public. Among the biggest creditors are companies that are owned by or linked to the Pavgord group and businessman Gordan Pavlović, who is also the owner of Nova Željezara Zenica.
The biggest claims
The report submitted by the temporary bankruptcy administrator to the Municipal Court in Zenica clearly showed the debt structure of Nova Željezara Zenica. In addition to the others, Nova Ljubija Prijedor has reported claims of 69 million, Pavgord 41 million, while Zvornik Ferrum claims a dizzying 160 million marks.
President of the Nova Željezara Zenica Trade Union Rašid Fetić believes that precisely these claims raise numerous questions.
“A company with one employee made a profit of 29,000 marks in 2024. I think that in 2025 the profit was not even shown, and in 2026 they have claims of 160 million marks. We know the connection between the company Pavgord and the owner of that company. I think that even the father of the owner of Ferrum was a director in Alumina. That connection certainly exists,” said Fetić.
No answer about the debt
According to available information, Ferrum from Zvornik is registered for media advertising and marketing, but there is no available contact for that company.
Just as there was no response from the Zenica company to our inquiry as to how the aforementioned debts arose and on what basis this company is demanding that amount from Nova Željezara Zenica.
The owner of Ferrum is Gvozden Stevanović, the son of Zoran Stevanović, the current SNSD minister in the Government of RS.
Member of the List for Justice and Order in the NSRS Nebojša Vukanović believes that the public deserves answers.
“It would be good to hear an explanation of how a company that has no employees and is owned by the minister’s son has 160 million marks in receivables from Željezara Zenica. That is the answer for the Nobel Prize for economics,” said Vukanović.
Fear for the future
Allegedly, it is an assignment of earlier claims that were transferred from Nova Željezara to Ferrum.
From the shutdown of integral production to the possible opening of bankruptcy, the workers have completely lost confidence in the new owners. Precisely in bankruptcy, due to the large claims of creditors, their claims could fall into the background.
“We have information that the agglomeration, the blast furnace and the steel plant had to be settled in the next two years. I think that was the goal from the very beginning. Although a lot was promised, the background was to shut down production and settle everything. The focus was on transport and the energy industry. Maybe it’s good that the masks fell on time,” Fetić pointed out.
The workers demand an emergency administration
Due to all of the above, the workers additionally wish for the introduction of an extraordinary administration, which, according to Article 116 of the Act on Extraordinary Administration Procedures, could propose to the court to conduct a forensic and financial audit as well as an audit of all payments between related companies, which should determine whether everything was done in accordance with the law.
Kenan Mujkanović, president of the Union of Metalworkers of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, believes that precisely such a procedure could provide answers to numerous open questions.
“I think that’s exactly why there was resistance from the new co-owners to this law, that is, fear of what could be revealed in the extraordinary administration procedure. I don’t want to prejudge because evidence is needed for that. However, if there was nothing illegal, the question arises why there is so much fear of that procedure,” emphasized Mujkanović.
Earlier, Nova Željezara Zenica, in one of the numerous announcements, stated that “checks by competent institutions did not reveal any illegal activities at Nova Željezara Zenica”.
Now, there are no answers to specific questions about how the 160 million debt from Nova Željezara arose, just as neither the management nor their lawyers wanted to answer media questions after the bankruptcy hearing.
