There is obviously money for luxury needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Only in the past three years, BiH politicians spent more than 35 million BAM on limousines. This shown bythe data of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), which has compiled a database of official state cars.
Driven by a slogan ”have money to burn”, BiH politicians, institutions, and public companies do not spare. Example one: Elektroprivreda HZHB bought a luxury limousine this year for a staggering 133.323 BAM. Was this purchase necessary and for what needs?
“It was procured for the needs of the company’s management. This procurement, such as all other procurements, was planned in the procurement plan. This purchase of vehicles did not have any negative effect on both the company and consumers,” statedMarija Buntic, head of Corporate Communications at Public Utility Elektroprivreda HZHB.
The second example: Prozor Rama municipality. This local car community cashed in 111.965 marks. Mayor Jozo Ivancevic did not provide answer to the question for what needs this vehicle was procured and whether it could have been more cheaply.
So, despite the pandemic, public money is spent on luxury and the purchase of expensive vehicles. It seems that this sum is a trifle for them.
“Only during this year, 3.3 million BAM has been spent on limousines, and tenders worth over seven million marks have been announced. That is why we expect that these costs will be much higher by the end of the year,” said BIRN BiH Executive Director Denis Dzidic.
The citizens’ doubts about how many tenders are set up and how much corruption there is during that process are growing:
“Of course, they did not earn all that money for the limousineslegally.'”
“Politicans are a reflection of the people.”
“They’ve been behaving like that for the last twenty years. It’s a complete lack of empathy for how normally the ordinary world lives.”
Namely, research and monitoring conducted by Transparency when it comes to vehicle procurement show that in more than 80 percent of cases, the conditions are set so that only one offer is appropriate in the beginning, Federalna writes.
E.Dz.
