Austrian giant still cooperating with a company in BiH causing millions in damages to the state?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Some foreign companies that do business with BiH manufacturers often lower the purchase prices of products from BiH, thereby directly reducing the standard of Bosnian and Herzegovinian workers, and pushing the domestic economy into the grey zone. Often, even though they come from developed and organized societies themselves, foreign partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina engage in business with BiH entrepreneurs even if they operate on the wrong side of the law.

The world-renowned footwear brand “Paul Green” has been cooperating with the company “Fortuna” in Gračanica for a long time. In April last year, the Cantonal Court in Tuzla sentenced Fortuna’s director Safet Pjanić to five years in prison for organized crime, and the company ended up in bankruptcy. Pjanić’s group was accused of damaging Fortuna by about four and a half million marks, as well as the state by not paying multi-million mark taxes.

“Paul Green” did not break off cooperation with the Pjanić family. That foreign company continued to do business with the company “Fortunatto”, which was founded at the same address, Zlatnih ljiljana 79 in Gračanica, by Safet’s son Bakir, also one of the accused in the proceedings against his father?!

The director of “Paul Green”, Guido Strebel, visited the Municipality of Gračanica in 2017 and spoke of the company as a major global brand that produces ten thousand pairs of shoes daily, with an annual turnover of around 100 million euros! The company markets its products in Western European markets in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and is expanding into the US and Japanese markets. At that time, the mayor of Gračanica, Nusret Helić, was promised 250 new jobs and a 50 percent increase in production. One of the positive aspects of the meeting at the time was the promise of increased wages for all employees in the company “Forttunato” as well as significant financial investments in infrastructure, but none of that has been realized to date, or very little has been achieved. Workers in that company today earn around 500 KM, which is far below the average salary in the Federation, which in 2018 was 889 KM.