Herzegovinian lobbies in the FBiH Government: Nermin Nikšić wants to appoint Damir Hadžić as the receiver of Željezara, the goal is to favor Lager from Posušje, the largest steel importer in BiH!

(Patria) - Leaders of the SDP intend to appoint former Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH Damir Hadžić as the "receiver" of Nova Željezara Zenica, Istraga has learned from multiple sources close to the party.

The prerequisite is for the Parliament of the Federation of BiH to adopt the law on the procedure of receivership in the economic entity Nova Željezara Zenica of special systemic importance for FBiH, which would open the possibility for the FBiH Government, led by Nermin Nikšić, to take full control of Zenica's Željezara. The ultimate goal is to take over the large reserves of iron and steel located in this company, which was recently acquired by Pavgord from Foča with the help of the Bingo company.

"The receiver," the proposed law states, "is a natural person appointed by a decision of the FBiH Government, and whose appointment is confirmed by a court, for the purpose of managing the debtor's business and conducting the procedure under court supervision."

This means that the FBiH Government will be above the court, and will appoint Damir Hadžić, the former director of the BiH branch of the Zagreb corporation Agram, to the position of "receiver" of Željezara.

Hadžić, if this law is adopted, would effectively be above the FBiH Bankruptcy Law, because "from the day of the introduction of receivership, neither pre-bankruptcy nor bankruptcy proceedings can be conducted."

"The court conducting the previous proceedings is obliged, no later than 24 hours, to issue a declaratory decision to suspend the proceedings, and to suspend all actions of liquidation, division, sale, and transfer of assets," the Draft Law states.

This would allow the FBiH Government to temporarily take full control of Nova Željezara Zenica. Nikšić's goal, as we learn, is to keep Željezara "alive" until the elections, and after that, this company would definitely disappear.

We remind you that the company Pavgord from Foča, whose owner is close to SNSD officials, bought Željezara Zenica from the British Mital family, which withdrew from Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the beginning of this year, the European Union began implementing CBAM, i.e., introducing special taxes on goods imported into the EU that are produced using so-called "dirty energy." This made Zenica's Željezara uncompetitive on the EU market. In the same period, Serbia, in order to protect its market, introduced quotas on steel in January of this year. Slobodna Evropa then reported that, according to the Decree of the Government of Serbia, about 73,000 tons of steel could be imported from BiH to Serbia in the first half of 2026, which is about 31,000 tons less than the semi-annual exports last year. For comparison, Zenica's Željezara exported about 220,000 tons of steel to Serbia annually.

At the same time, the Council of Ministers of BiH refused to protect the market. Namely, at the end of March, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected the proposal of Staša Košarac, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to introduce 30 percent customs duties on steel imports into Bosnia and Herzegovina for a period of 200 days. Ministers from HDZ BiH voted against it, thereby directly favoring steel importers in BiH, among whom the largest importer is the company Lager from Posušje. That the protection of domestic steel production would most affect the Herzegovinian import lobby gathered around Lager and HDZ BiH was also evident on the Raport portal on February 10 of this year.

"We believe that adopting such a decision in an urgent procedure could have serious negative consequences for domestic entrepreneurs, especially for companies involved in steel processing, production of reinforcing meshes, and other products widely used in the construction sector. The introduction of additional customs burdens would directly increase production costs, making domestic producers uncompetitive compared to companies from neighboring countries, such as Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia, where such measures do not exist or are significantly milder," Lager, the largest steel importer in BiH, announced at the time.

The owner of Lager is Herzegovinian businessman Milenko Bašić. His brother Ivan Inja Bašić was arrested in Zagreb in 2019 for fraud related to the sale of luxury cars.

It is precisely Lager, according to Istraga's information, that lobbied and continues to lobby for Damir Hadžić, who worked for another Herzegovinian businessman with a Zagreb address – Dubravko Grgić and his company Agram – for years, to be appointed as the "receiver" of Željezara in Zenica.

For years, Damir Hadžić was distanced from the SDP BiH headquarters due to criminal proceedings. However, Nermin Nikšić and Elvedin Grabovica are now trying to bring Damir Hadžić back into political games. Initially, they appointed him as the head of the SDP's election headquarters, but due to a rebellion within a part of the party, Hadžić was temporarily removed. However, Nikšić and Grabovica now see an opportunity to appoint Hadžić as the manager of Željezara in Zenica.

In August last year, Damir Hadžić was definitively acquitted of charges of abuse of office during his tenure as mayor of Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipality. The trial lasted nine years. The prosecution accused Damir Hadžić of illegally allowing the payment of more than one million marks from the budget of Novi Grad Municipality to Esed Radeljaš for land that Radeljaš had paid to the Municipality in the amount of 51,340.00 KM in 2006, thus damaging the budget of Novi Grad Municipality by almost one million marks.

Before that, Damir Hadžić was an actor in the Reket affair, where accusations were made that SDP leaders extorted businessman Nihad Imamović. However, the BiH Prosecutor's Office never initiated an investigation in this case.