Following a meeting with the Ministers of Finance, Labor, and Administration and Local Self-Government in the Government of Republika Srpska (RS), the leaders of the SDS party announced that a solution had been found to pay salaries to employees of the party, whose account was blocked at the end of March this year due to sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States (U.S.) Department of the Treasury.
The SDS did not disclose details of the agreement with representatives of the Government of RS, namely how salaries would be paid. During the press conference, they stated that the details would be finalized after the meeting between the party’s president, Milan Milicevic, and the Minister of Administration and Local Self-Government. They explained that a solution could not be found through the recently adopted amendments to the Labor Law of RS because the accounts of SDS employees, who are unable to receive salaries, were not blocked, as they are not covered by the sanctions, but rather the party that is their employer.
According to Vukota Govedarica, the head of the SDS parliamentary caucus in the National Assembly of RS (NARS), the solution was found in the Law on Obligations.
“We have reached a solution, and I am sorry it was not done fifteen days ago. We waited for the announced labor law where we supported that decision because if anyone knows how officials under sanctions function, it is the SDS, as it has felt all of that on its own back since 2004, 2006, and onwards,” said Govedarica.
Govedarica stated that the SDS has thirty-three employed workers who are currently unable to receive salaries because the party’s account is blocked. He announced a new meeting with representatives of the Government of RS for the next week.
The collaboration with the SDS has been terminated by the Banja Luka Nova Banka.
OFAC placed the SDS on the sanctions list at the end of 2004, which means that companies based in the U.S. cannot do business with individuals and organizations on this list.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury also imposed sanctions on some of the highest officials of RS, including Milorad Dodik, the President of RS, and Zeljka Cvijanovic, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
They were sanctioned by account blocking because they undermined peace and stability in BiH by organizing the unconstitutional “Day of RS,” the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated earlier.
In addition to Dodik and Cvijanovic, around ten individuals, mostly close associates of Milorad Dodik, have been sanctioned.
Due to the closure of accounts to individuals in banks, as an effort to ensure that sanctioned individuals can still receive salaries, the NARS, at its last session, adopted amendments to the Labor Law that legalized salary payments in cash, which was illegal under the old law.
The question arises as to how individuals who will receive salaries in an envelope will pay taxes and contributions.
“It will be paid very simply. If payments come from the treasury, they will immediately settle taxes and contributions, so this is not a problem at all. I don’t understand why there is so much fuss about ten people and one company. Should ten of us be burned at the stake, while you, who constantly target this, broadcast it live? Human rights are supposed to be the same everywhere,” said the President of the NARS, Nenad Stevandic.
Officials from RS are targeted by sanctions for activities deemed unconstitutional and destabilizing in BiH, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
