The Council of Ministers did not reach a decision on the payment of the 110 million BAM debt to the Viaduct company at its last session. While the debt is growing by more than 18 thousand BAM every day, the owner of Viaduct says that he will take the money from the state of BiH in any way he can. The verdict has been passed, the arbitration has begun, one by one the state institutions will pay for the debt they did not make. This is just one of the cases in a series. Non-transparent concession contracts are creating millions in deficits in the state treasury day after day.
For five years, the Viaduct company sought a settlement with the RS Government on the payment of damages due to the unilateral termination of the concession contract. In all those years, they did not receive an answer. In 2014, they offered the Government to pay them 3.8 million euros, so that there would be no arbitration dispute. Without an answer, but through legal means, and ultimately with a verdict in their favor. From the initial few million, more than 50 million euros were reached, which will be paid by confiscating state property.
“We don’t see any other way to repay the debt. We won’t stop. We will get the money in any way. Who will think that it is inappropriate, because in the end it is the people who will suffer, not the politicians,” said Boris Goljevšcek, director of Viaduct d.o.o. Portorož.
Politicians will not suffer, but they will also not behave responsibly. The 2017 agreement signed by Željka Cvijanović on behalf of the RS Government with the Council of Ministers of BiH has never been respected. It specifies that all monetary amounts based on the final arbitration decision – are paid by the RS Government. The BiH Attorney General’s Office even addressed the signatories of the agreement 20 times, warning and seeking solutions.
Economic expert Svetlana Cenić believes that a simpler solution is to collect this debt through indirect taxes that are distributed to the entities, all within the framework of the existing law or possible amendments: “Anyway, debts to foreign countries are repaid first – everyone is responsible for what they owe, that is deducted, and then the rest of the money is distributed.”
Money is certainly being distributed, but that from contracts and concessions. How much and to whom, the money trail is not easy to follow because these are experienced contracting parties. Transparency International has been pointing out the corruption aspect of this story for years, which ultimately paid off.
“Many things from the very beginning of this Viaduct affair indicated that the entire deal was concluded only to extract public money and whether it is true – this should be checked by the competent institutions. However, numerous actors in this entire process have pointed out from the very beginning that this is about corruption, that the goal is to extract as much money as possible, and that is probably why this issue has been delayed,” said Srđan Traljić, public relations manager at TIBiH.
And this is not the only case. Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing several arbitration disputes, mainly in the Republika Srpska, where another arbitration is threatening for the wind farm near Nevesinje. Also, the question is under what circumstances will 60 million marks be given to the company of oligarch Rašid Sedarov for the concession he received in Ugljevik. A list of debts, damage to the state in billions.
“GIKIL is currently in the process of international arbitration, we have Ugljevik, we have Gacko. We are talking about billions that may be due and in the international legal system the executor and the payer is the state of BiH”, warns BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković.
This would not happen if entity and state institutions respected final judgments. Is it perhaps time for the judiciary to get involved in these processes?, Federalna writes.
