The companies that were put on the list of sanctions by the United States (U.S.) on Tuesday due to their connection with the Dodik family received tenders worth more than half a billion BAM from domestic institutions, according to analysis of more than a thousand individual tenders. Along with “Prointer”, which itself won tenders worth more than 280 million, and “Kalder” with 180 million, the company “Sirius 2010” won procurements worth 50 million, half of which is the contract from January this year for the digitization of TV signals.
Three out of a total of seven companies that the U.S. put on the new list of sanctions on Tuesday due to their connection with Milorad Dodik’s family have won jobs worth more than 512 million BAM in tenders since their establishment, according to data from the Public Procurement Portal which was analyzed.
These three companies received more than 1,400 tenders, most of them from institutions in the Republika Srpska (RS). Among these institutions, the Tax Administration of RS and the entity “Elektroprivreda”, as well as the state company “Elektroprenos” stand out.
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Ministry of Finance explained in its statement that seven companies bring the main sources of income to the President of RS, Milorad Dodik, as well as his family. Dodik used his position for personal enrichment through companies associated with him and his son Igor, according to OFAC.
They also mentioned a specific example in which Milorad and Igor used the control they have over high-ranking officials in the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to manipulate the preparation of the BiH state budget so that the contract at the state level could be awarded to the company “Prointer ITSS” without a competitive process.
OFAC did not specify which contract it was. According to data from the official state Public Procurement Portal, this company concluded at least four contracts with state companies or institutions in 2024.
In February, the BiH Veterinary Office awarded the job of purchasing computers and monitors for 34,000 BAM through a competitive request, which is a less transparent procedure compared to open calls.
In April, “Elektroprenos” awarded a contract of 250,000 BAMto “Prointer”, as the only bidder, for SAP support. Portal Capital previously announced that “Prointer” lost its SAP license due to previous sanctions, but that they found a way to get support jobs.
Also in February, the BiH Communications Regulatory Agency awarded the network maintenance job, worth almost 30,000 BAM, to “Prointer ITSS” based in Banja Luka through an open procedure.
In January, the company received the largest job at the state level from the Independent System Operator (NOS). NOS allocated more than half a million BAM for the new data center in an open procedure.
Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson, commenting on the new sanctions, accused Dodik of exploiting his own people for personal gain.
For three of the seven sanctioned companies, there is no official data that they won tenders, while one company won only one tender. But the companies “Prointer ITSS”, “Sirius 2010” and “Kaldera” together won jobs worth more than half a billion BAM in more than 1,400 tenders, according to official data, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
