Public Procurement Agency Must Review Purchase of Čović's Audi A8, Numerous Rules Violated!

The BiH Presidency, as previously reported by the Patria News Agency, purchased an "Audi A8" for its chairman Dragan Čović, costing 200,000 KM, but several regulations were violated during the procurement. The Public Procurement Agency is now expected to react, as those responsible for this process should be sanctioned.

Thus, by the public procurement plan, the BiH Presidency determined in April 2015 that the purchase of a car was not foreseen.

 The Audi was purchased on October 27, and the decision to amend the public procurement plan, which foresaw the purchase of the car, was adopted only on December 4 last year. Otherwise, three members of the Presidency are entitled to an official car of a high class with an individual value of up to 130,000 marks, and Čović's car will be paid for with VAT at 200,000 KM.

If the Public Procurement Agency does not respond quickly, we can expect that the other two members of the Presidency might take a similar step.

And, just half a year ago, Čović said he was ashamed to be driven in an expensive vehicle.

When the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, visited Sarajevo in June 2015 and drove in a Ford Focus, BiH politicians should have felt ashamed. Some claimed they did.

Dragan Čović stated at the time: "I arrive at the airport in an Audi A8, the Pope is going in some car. What can one say about all this? This is something that should be a motivation for us, if anything motivates us to engage in politics - that we can conduct politics in a different way."