Money Extraction for SDA's Needs: Loterija BiH Malversations with the Blessing of the FBiH Government and Tax Administration

The fact that Loterija BiH has been allowed to commit the biggest malversations in business in the Federation of BiH is clearly indicated by the fact that it is the only one not introduced into the fiscalization system, meaning Loterija BiH, contrary to the Law on Fiscal Systems, does not have fiscal cash registers at its payment points nor does it issue fiscal receipts to clients for its services, writes the Patria news agency.

While SDA, through Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, SDA Secretary General Amir Zukić, and acting director of the FBiH Tax Administration Šerif Isović, accuses private betting shops of various malversations without any evidence, they have enabled Loterija BiH to be completely outside the jurisdiction of any positive legal regulation, to do whatever it wants and however it wants, and for whose account, only they know.

The Law on Fiscal Systems very clearly defines this area. Thus, in Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the aforementioned law, it states:

“Every individual transaction realized through fiscal devices, regardless of the method of payment (cash, check, card, bank transfer, etc.), must be recorded by every person registered in the appropriate register for the turnover of goods or for providing services to clients.”

Therefore, Loterija BiH and private lottery operators are in the same position and are obliged, in accordance with regulations, to have fiscal cash registers at their payment points and to issue fiscal receipts to clients for services rendered.

However, the actual situation on the ground is different and proves that Loterija BiH grossly violates the Law on Fiscal Systems. While private operators comply with legal regulations and issue fiscal receipts to players for every service rendered, Loterija BiH has not installed a fiscal cash register in any of its branches, nor are fiscal receipts issued to clients for services rendered.

Thus, since the introduction of the fiscalization system, private operators have invested 4,784,000 KM in the purchase, installation, and maintenance of fiscal devices in approximately 2,400 business premises, while Loterija BiH, by illegally avoiding fiscalization for its 167 payment points, has avoided investing 334,000 KM.

Why does the Law on Fiscal Systems apply to private lottery operators, but not to Loterija BiH, thereby grossly violating the Constitution of FBiH, which guarantees equality before the law for all legal and natural persons?

Exemption from the fiscalization system is possible, as defined by Paragraph 3, Article 5 of the Law on Fiscal Systems, which states:

“The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina may, by its Decision, and upon the proposal of the minister, based on the specifics of a certain activity, define other activities that are not subject to the obligation of recording turnover through fiscal systems.”

From this provision, it is crystal clear that Loterija BiH cannot be individually exempted from the fiscalization system for any reason, meaning that the FBiH Government can only exempt an entire specific activity by Decision, i.e., all economic entities from that activity together, and by no means can it exempt one economic entity separately, including Loterija BiH.

Since that Decision of the FBiH Government on exempting the lottery activity from the fiscalization system has never been made and published in the Official Gazette, it is clear that the FBiH Government and the FBiH Tax Administration, led by acting director Šerif Isović, have illegally allowed Loterija BiH to carry out criminal activities unhindered, allowing Loterija BiH to operate contrary to the Law on Fiscal Systems for five years and thus damage the FBiH Budget by more than several million KM.

Who Will Be Criminally Responsible

The Law on Fiscal Systems prescribes fines from 2,500 KM to 20,000 KM for legal entities that do not record every individual transaction through a fiscal device and the transfer of data via terminals to the FBiH Tax Administration servers, or if they do not issue a fiscal receipt to the client for the service rendered.

However, despite violating the Law on Fiscal Systems for five years, Loterija BiH continues to operate unhindered and continues to carry out illegal activities.

Responsibility for controlling the operations of Loterija BiH lies with the management of Loterija BiH, the FBiH Government, and the FBiH Tax Administration, which have persistently ignored the facts confirming criminal activities in Loterija BiH for five years. It is evident that the acting director of the FBiH Tax Administration, Šerif Isović (SDA), is consciously turning a blind eye to the crime in Loterija BiH and should therefore be held responsible under Article 383 of the Criminal Code of FBiH for “abuse of position and authority”, for which prison sentences ranging from one to 10 years are prescribed.

Caught in Lies and Crime

Loterija BiH and the FBiH Tax Administration were caught in lies and crime a few days ago when a check of the GUID number revealed that the slips paid at Loterija BiH branches, in addition to not having fiscal receipts issued for them, were not recorded on the FBiH Tax Administration server.

Only after this criminal act became public did Loterija BiH react and record the disputed slips on the FBiH Tax Administration server, thereby confirming that Loterija BiH and the FBiH Tax Administration, with the blessing of the FBiH Government, are complicit in crime and malversations with the aim of illegally extracting money from Loterija BiH for party needs and the purchase of power for SDA.

The theft and extraction of money is precisely the reason why Loterija BiH paid a shameful 153,806.50 KM or 0.86% of the total amount (17,834,920.00 KM) to the federal budget in the first six months of 2016 based on fees and taxes, while private betting shops paid as much as 17,681,114.00 KM or 98.14% of the total amount.

This confirms the suspicions that behind SDA's desire to destroy regular private betting shops, which annually contribute over 75 million KM to the federal budget, lies an effort to secure a monopoly for Loterija BiH in the FBiH market, so that SDA would have even greater capital at its disposal through Loterija BiH for malversations, theft, and illegal extraction.