Is the contract between Lutrija BiH and Austrian Novomatic detrimental to the BiH company?

During a hearing at the civil court of Wiener Neustadt in mid-October this year, a long-time business partner of Novomatic accused this international gambling corporation of corruption again. 

Allegedly, on the orders of the then head of Novomatic, Franz Wohlfart, he paid EUR 4,500 monthly to politician Peter Westenthaler (BZO - Austrian political party), Austrian media reported. Westenthaler received the money in cash.

Novomatic's lawyer disputes the accusations. Former parliamentary representative and former head of the BZO party, Westenthaler, also denied this case in a conversation with the Austrian Presse Agentur.

The Novomatic group also operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2006, the company signed a contract with Lutrija BiH. 
In the Audit Report on the financial statements of "Lutrija BiH" for 2011, inspectors from the Audit Office of Institutions in FBiH stated that Lutrija BiH's liabilities for November and December 2011 to HTL d.o.o. Sarajevo amounted to 1,452,914 KM, based on participation in revenue generated from joint operations for these two months. HTL is the daughter company of Austrian Novomatic for BiH. 

- The Company concluded an Agreement on joint operation of gambling games on slot machines with Austrian Gaming Industries GMBH, a company of Novomatic Group of Companies, on 12.09.2006. In accordance with IAS 31 – Interests in Joint Ventures, an agreement was made between the Company and Austrian Gaming Industries GMBH, which transferred its rights from the Agreement to its daughter company, HTL d.o.o. Sarajevo. In November 2006, the Ministry gave consent for the joint operation of gambling games on slot machines with this partner. Based on the agreement, revenues generated from slot machines are shared in a 50 : 50 ratio – the auditors stated.

According to the official website of Lutrija, there are currently around 1,400 Novomatic machines in the branches of this state-owned company. In the ten years that Novomatic has been operating in BiH, it is very likely that the company has collected around 80 million KM from BiH citizens, writes Patria.