Energoinvest lost 22 million KM, yet boasts about arbitration decision!

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo @aminacorbozeco

The arbitration court in Zurich, Switzerland, has made a decision according to which "BH-Gas" and the company "Energoinvest" are obliged to pay the Hungarian transporter "FGSZ" 11.16 million dollars due to the change in the route of supply of Bosnia and Herzegovina with gas from Russia, according to a joint statement by "Energoinvest" and "BH Gas" from April 22.

Energoinvest's statement, written on several pages, had only one goal: to hide the management of this company, or rather, their role in the entire process.

Not a single document was presented in Energoinvest's claims, and therefore Patria presents part of the documentation that shows there are no innocents and that Energoinvest cannot hide.

It is therefore clear that after the termination of the contract with the Hungarian transporter, Energoinvest and BH-Gas must pay 11 million USD plus lawyer fees and arbitration costs.

This means that based on the arbitration proceedings initiated by Energoinvest due to the contract termination, the obligation for these two federal companies is to pay 22 million KM. If the contract had not been terminated, there would have been no payment of 22 million KM, so this court outcome is not a success in any way.

We remind you that the contract was terminated for which the Arbitration Council stated that there is **NO FORCE MAJEURE**, and Energoinvest, with its lawyers, based its defense on the unprovable fact that there was force majeure.

Looking at media reports, Energoinvest has tried to push the narrative in the past period that it will not lose this dispute and will even recover millions of USD. If two federal companies have to pay FGSZ 11 million USD, what happened to the public promise that they would not pay anything based on this arbitration proceeding.

In 2020, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was convinced of something that did not happen and could not happen, and irreparable damage was caused to Energoinvest and BH-Gas, as well as to the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Since their statement does not mention their contribution to the conclusion of Annex 24 with FGSZ, and they claim that it should not have been concluded, let the public judge whose signature is on this Annex and whose name is listed at the end of this Annex.

At the same time, the Letter of Assurance, signed by Bisera Hadžialjević on behalf of Energoinvest, states:

"they jointly declare that they will not terminate the concluded Long-Term Gas Transportation Agreement with FGSZ. The termination of the contract with FGSZ is not in the interest of either company, as the Government of FBiH, by Letter of Assurance, ordered that the contract be fulfilled by the end of 2023."

Letter of Assurance

Now we have a situation where we are paying penalties for gas transport to FGSZ in the amount of 11 million USD and paying for gas transport via TurkStream.

At the same time, the Government of FBiH, as far as is known, has unanimously voted twice on providing guarantees to the Hungarian transporter FGSZ, and this has been published in the Official Gazette of FBiH, but the transcript from the Government of FBiH regarding the discussion during the second vote has not been published, as it has been declared a STATE SECRET.

Therefore, it should be emphasized that Energoinvest's praise for the arbitration decision is not justified at all, because we have to pay 22 million KM, which is not commendable in any way.

Incidentally, the contract with the Hungarians was only supposed to be fulfilled until 2023 according to the decision of the Government of FBiH, which all parties signed.

The switch to TurkStream additionally cost FBiH 22 million KM and resulted in a 105% increase in gas prices for consumers.

Incidentally, the arbitration court's verdict came last week, but Energoinvest's statement, in which everyone is to blame except the one who terminated the contract, was delayed by a few days, which is understandable considering that a construction had to be devised, which Energoinvest offered yesterday!