Can the image of Republika Srpska (RS) be improved in the United States (U.S.), where Milorad Dodik, who will soon become the president of that entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is on the so-called ”black list”.
Among other things, this is a task for the office of the U.S. state of Texas, in which RS spent tens of thousands of dollars on a monthly basis for legal representation in the U.S. during 2022, as shown by documents available on the website of the Texas Ministry of Justice.
This is a task for the office from the American state of Texas, in which RS spent tens of thousands of dollars per month for legal representation in the US during 2022, as shown by documents available on the website of the Texas Ministry of Justice.
Since 2019, the law firm ”McGinnis Lochridge” based in Texas has been doing this work on behalf of the Government of RS (one of the two entities in BiH).
As can be seen from the letter of intent dated February 2nd, which was signed by Martin Lutz, a lawyer from ”McGinnis Lochridge” and Zlatan Klokic, Minister for Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation of the Government of the RS, the agreement states that the office will be paid 63 thousand dollars a month for legal services until the end of the year.
As confirmed by the Representation of the RS in Washington, nothing has been changed in this arrangement even after the current member of the BiH Presidency from this entity, Milorad Dodik, was imposed sanctions by the U.S. Department of Finance at the beginning of the year for ”destabilizing corrupt activities” and ”attempts to collapse the Dayton Peace Agreement”.
Lobbying or something else?
Kesic claims that their work, as well as the work of the law firm they hired, does not constitute lobbying and that RS does not have its own lobbyists in the U.S.
”It is constantly presented as lobbying. RS currently has no lobbyists in the U.S. It has a representative office, has lawyers who deal exclusively with international law, and has various expert advisors for economic and financial issues,” Kesic explained.
Although Dodik is under sanctions, this was not an obstacle to this agreement, nor to the work of the Representation in Washington.
Kesic claimed that they are connected to the Government of the RS and that they are accountable to it, and that they are not connected to Dodik or any other individual.
Federal states in the U.S. have different definitions of lobbying, but they generally boil down to the fact that lobbying means trying to influence the activities of the government, for another interested party, in exchange for some kind of compensation.
According to the research of the non-governmental organization ”Bosnian Advocacy Center” from Sarajevo which was conducted in September last year, since 2006, the RS has spent about 40 million dollars on lobbying in the U.S., Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
