Will German judiciary investigate Lagumdžija and Dodik?

SDS MP in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina Aleksandra Pandurević warned on July 15th this year that a major scandal involving the printing of ID cards and driver's licenses, worth 104 million marks, has been uncovered, linking Milorad Dodik and Zlatko Lagumdžija, writes the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

Pandurević then asked the Chief Prosecutor of BiH Goran Salihović to react immediately. However, an official investigation was never conducted.

On this occasion, Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) announced today that it has forwarded information to German investigative authorities regarding the case of procurement of electronic documents by the Agency for Identification Documents, Data Records and Exchange of BiH, considering that German capital and legal entities from Germany are involved, and it is unrealistic to expect the judiciary in BiH to prosecute this case due to the involvement of high-ranking officials.

- TI BiH has forwarded information to German investigative authorities related to the case of procurement of electronic ID cards and driver's licenses, a system for the production and personalization of electronic ID cards, and the contract concluded in connection with this business by the Agency for Identification Documents, Data Records and Exchange of BiH (IDDEEA). TI BiH has forwarded the information to German investigative authorities, considering that according to information from media reports, as well as the audit report, German capital and legal entities from Germany are involved in the entire case - it was stated by TI BiH.

Otherwise, the harmful contract was concluded between the Agency for Issuance of Identification Documents of BiH (IDEEA) and the company "Milbauer", signed by its director Danilo Petrović, the son-in-law of Nebojša Radmanović. Also, Pandurević claimed that both Dodik and Lagumdžija are beneficially connected to that company through their relatives and friends.

She also stated that the Council of Ministers decided to enter into a negotiated procedure with the consortium Milbauer Germany and Milbauer Banja Luka instead of a tender, and that the BiH Legal Affairs Directorate gave consent for the conclusion of the contract with the Consortium, but that the contract was subsequently concluded with the company Milbauer Banja Luka, which auditors also stated was not qualified and which has since built a factory in Banja Luka.

These allegations were also confirmed by auditors, who pointed out that the procurement, with a total value of approximately 104,000,000 KM, was carried out through a negotiated procedure without prior notice.

- The audit report pointed to a number of irregularities in this procedure, including the selection of a negotiated procedure without additional notice of procurement, as stipulated by the BiH Law on Public Procurement. The audit report also found that the contract for the procurement of ID card and driver's license forms contained provisions that could have harmful consequences for the budget of BiH institutions, primarily relating to the withdrawal of contracted annual quantities, total quantities, and advance payments - it is stated, among other things, in the TI BiH statement.