Pool is sinking, director is silent: Hasanović responsible for financial and moral collapse of JP Olympic Pool Otoka

(Patria) - The annual report on the work and operations of JP "Olympic Pool Otoka" for 2024 reveals a series of alarming omissions and serious irregularities in the work of this public company, indicating the incompetence, irresponsibility, and potentially illegal actions of the current Management and Director Avdija Hasanović.

From the information in the annual report of "Bazeni" for 2024, despite a huge number of users (around 500,000 visits annually), the company finished 2024 with a meager profit of only 620 KM. Such a result clearly shows inefficient revenue management, poor cost planning, and a clear lack of development vision.

Insufficient revenue utilization and poor cost management have evidently resulted in minimal profit, which has called into question Director Hasanović's ability to develop independently without constant support from the founder and to take on additional debt of one million marks in 2025.

Instead of progress, a serious decline and stagnation have been recorded in several strategic projects.

The project to help children with developmental disabilities, despite partial funding from the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo, has not been expanded to any other municipality in the Sarajevo Canton, even though the project is of broader social significance for all citizens of the Sarajevo Canton.

"Summer at the Olympic" which includes a summer swimming school, is a project that, among other things, offers discounts in swimming school education for children and citizens of the Sarajevo Canton and beyond.

This project has been implemented for a long time, and before Avdija Hasanović's arrival, it was a significant financial injection for improving the company's revenue. However, the result of this project for 2024 is minimal, and revenue is falling year after year. It is unclear whether the program is even organized anymore during "Hasanović's rule".

Sports rehabilitation for the veteran population functions only in a few municipalities in KS, through co-financing, and one of the primary projects for our veterans has not been comprehensively resolved, which Director Hasanović's poor management over all these years has definitely failed to solve this crucial problem.

Training of lifeguards and rescue services according to the international SSI program: a project in which JP "Olympic Pool Otoka" invested more than 10,000 KM in its staff for training and acquiring instructor skills for lifeguard training before Avdija Hasanović's term, has been completely shut down, and according to the information we have, the Pool has even lost its license and membership in this most prestigious American organization in the world.

A dispute with the Indirect Taxation Authority (UIO) has been ongoing since 2012, and it continues to burden operations. It is scandalous that for over a decade, the Authority has not managed to find a solution, leaving the company under constant financial pressure. Throughout all these years, since 2012, JP "Olympic Pool Otoka" d.o.o. has lost millions of convertible marks, and according to information from a few months ago, under Avdija Hasanović's mandate, the Pool lost its legal case before the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which means the "Pool" must additionally pay claims to the UIO BiH, as well as all costs incurred in this court proceeding.

It is particularly concerning that Director Hasanović banned access to professional trainers who conducted special training with children with developmental disabilities. Although children from this category, along with their parents and trainers, regularly paid for the use of the pool. This decision and the arrogance of Director Hasanović in banning access to the Pool for this population have caused public outrage, which we are witnessing, and the media have also condemned it, as the most vulnerable category of society has been directly harmed, and all principles of legality, morality, ethics, and respect for the other and different have been violated.

​The facility and equipment have been operating continuously for seventeen years, and "technical systems urgently require significant investment in current and capital maintenance, as well as the replacement of certain components due to equipment obsolescence".

Although credit funds of 1,000,000 KM have been secured for 2025, the fact that investments are "urgently" needed and that procurement processes have only just begun clearly demonstrates the Management's inability to plan and invest in infrastructure maintenance in a timely manner. This has led Director Avdija Hasanović to bring the facility, the only Olympic pool in our city and country, into such a non-functional state, thereby misleading the citizens of Sarajevo, the mayor, the city administration of Sarajevo, and the wider social public.

The long-term neglect of capital maintenance has evidently led to major breakdowns, a decrease in service quality, and higher costs in the future, all at the expense of the Sarajevo City budget and the citizens who fund the budget. Although one of the key goals is the education of non-swimmers and lifeguard training, under Hasanović's mandate, there has been a decline, i.e., a decrease in the demand for engaged sports instructors-professors.

Furthermore, Hasanović's mandate has been marked by numerous hirings, where preference was given to administrative staff rather than sports professors. The question arises: is administration a priority in a public company whose primary activity is sports and the sports field, and whose function is to work with children and citizens through swimming school, sports rehabilitation, lifeguard and rescue service training, etc.?

It is particularly shocking to learn that in mid-2023, Hasanović hired Anel Bećirović, a person convicted of domestic violence and later accused of murdering his wife. Bećirović was employed as a receptionist-cashier, directly exposing pool users to risk.

It is concerning that the director did not request a certificate of no criminal record, although this is a minimal obligation when hiring in a public institution. According to sources from certain media outlets, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of KS, following a report, requested the seizure of documentation related to travel orders, including a controversial trip to Albania, allegedly without a proper order and approval from the Supervisory Board. Was this a private excursion financed by public funds? Also under investigation by the economic crime inspectorate is the illegal engagement of child transportation with a transport company in the Sarajevo Canton, worth 100,000 KM.

According to available information, Hasanović ordered a portion of the child transportation services without a public tender from the aforementioned company and without a concluded contract, and later "legalized" the procedure by awarding the public procurement of transportation to that same transport company. The question arises: did he know in advance who would be the most favorable bidder?

As a final indicator of the seriousness of the situation, the City Council of Sarajevo did not adopt the audit report on the Pool's operations for 2024, which has opened the door for further investigations and potential sanctions.

All these allegations point to a deep management crisis and a complete loss of confidence in the leadership of JP "Olympic Pool Otoka". The responsibility of Director Avdija Hasanović cannot and must not be ignored.