The Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina is getting its own building in the center of Banja Luka. Director Zoran Tegeltija signed a decision to purchase two buildings from the company “Grand Trade”, owned by Mile Radišić, godfather of the President of Republika Srpska and leader of the SNSD, Milorad Dodik, for a total of 98.57 million marks. Has the public interest been defeated in this case in comparison to the private interest?
After the tender for the purchase of the building of the Indirect Taxation Authority was repeatedly canceled, “Grand Trade” was chosen as the only bidder, as expected. The initial budget for the purchase of the building has grown from less than 38 million marks over the years to a dizzying 100 million. One building is for the needs of the Main Office, and the other for the headquarters of the Regional Center Banja Luka. The Indirect Taxation Authority has no comments. They say everything is said in the decision. “Transparency International” believes that the example of the purchase of the building of Grand Trade has confirmed that private interest is above public interest and the money of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Nobody expected it to reach an incredible 100 million and the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly banned it does not play a big role, even though it is an institution at the level of BiH and obviously without a clearly prohibited sanction, no conclusions or decisions will be respected.”
It was known from the beginning that the building of the Indirect Taxation Administration would be purchased from “Grad Trejd”, because it was built according to their requirements and everything was agreed in advance, says economic analyst Svetlana Cenić.
Svetlana Cenic, economic analyst: “Everything here functions according to the principle of blackmail and interests. Someone from the other side of the entity border has also intervened here, so I cannot say that their victory is already our defeat and the defeat of all those in power who allow it.”
The House of Representatives of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the proposal of the Commission for the Fight against Corruption, adopted a conclusion calling on the Indirect Taxation Administration to abandon the purchase of the Grand Trejd building owned by Mile Radišić. The journalists of Kapital are not surprised that these conclusions were ignored, but rather the prosecutors who allow illegal actions and agreements of politicians.
Darko Momic, journalist of the portal “Capital”: “I consider the judiciary, primarily prosecutors, and even judges, to be the most responsible for everything that is happening, because the job of politicians is to swindle, to manipulate money in a shady way to get money out of the pockets of citizens into their own pockets”.
Our interlocutors conclude that with much less money, a building could have been purchased in the wider center of Banja Luka or on the outskirts. It would have been much cheaper, they conclude, if the Indirect Taxation Administration itself had financed the construction of permanent accommodation for 650 employees and equipment.
