Who plunged the world-renowned and respected company ZOI '84 into darkness

The state-owned company ZOI '84 has been struggling with debts for the last seven years, although the value of the assets this company possesses is estimated at tens of millions of convertible marks, and economic experts have predicted for years that ZOI '84 could be the driver of the entire economy in Canton Sarajevo, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

ZOI '84 manages the Ski Center on Bjelašnica and Igman, the Olympic Complex Zetra, owns the ZOI TOURS travel agency, and owns or co-owns several other properties in the most attractive parts of Sarajevo. If this company operated at full capacity, BiH would be visited by twice as many tourists annually as is currently the case, benefiting the entire economic sector of Sarajevo and BiH.

Great Opportunities

However, despite the great opportunities this company can offer, around 150 workers of ZOI '84, a company whose name is known worldwide, have been living on the edge of existence for years, and this summer they had to demand their rights through strikes on the streets of Sarajevo, writes Patria.

Midhat Hubijar, the seventh director of ZOI '84 since the end of the aggression against BiH to date, appointed to this position in mid-November this year, allegedly has a plan to recover the company, but even two months after his appointment, he has not received support from the company's Trade Union.

They do not trust him. They accuse him of showing from the very beginning that he is not a friend of this company. He hired a bodyguard, and it is unclear to the workers from whom he will defend him, and they say he does not want to present them with the company's recovery plan either. They claim that the new director is hiding from them the contracts detailing to whom and for how much money he leased their administrative building in the most attractive part of the city, on Branilaca Sarajeva street.

The International Olympic Committee allowed the City of Sarajevo to organize the Winter Olympic Games (ZOI) in 1978.

The City Council then decided to form an Organizing Committee, which was responsible for the complete organization of the biggest winter sports event in the world. Preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo lasted six years. They were held in February 1984 and were declared one of the best-organized Olympic Games to date. These were the 14th Winter Olympic Games. Sarajevo was the center of the world in those days, with some of the greatest sports legends of that time walking its streets.

After the end of the Winter Games in Sarajevo, the Committee became the enterprise ZOI ’84 Olympic Center Sarajevo, with hotels, business tourism, and sports as the main activities of the post-Olympic period.

The dark days for ZOI '84, its employees claim, began in 2007, when Nadžad Ajnadžić took over the management of the company.

Regular Salaries

The company was led more than successfully until then by Enes Terzić, who was at the head of ZOI '84 until 2000, and from then until 2007, Džemal Bisić was at its head. Workers claim that they received regular salaries, even a 13th salary, as well as vacation pay, during the tenure of both directors.

- Bisić handed over a completely healthy and profitable company to Ajnadžić – says Alija Hodžić, president of the ZOI '84 Workers' Union.

What happened afterwards, nobody knows, but the company started operating worse and worse.

It started going downhill from Ajnadžić

Workers claim that Ajnadžić hired about 45 employees who burdened the company's operations, the company took on millions of convertible marks in debt, and salaries began to be delayed.

- In fact, workers never know how much the company is currently in debt; the figure of 20 million KM is mentioned, then a debt of 12 million is mentioned; workers simply never have a real insight into the company's operations – says Hodžić.

Ajnadžić, an SDA cadre, was succeeded in 2011 by Jasmin Terović (SDA), a few months later by Salko Hasanefendić (SDP), then by Marijana Arapović-Podrug (proposed by Besim Mehmedić, a former member of SBiH), Džemal Bisić was briefly reinstated for a few months, and after him came Džavid Kurtišaj.

- None of those people stayed for more than a few months. They did not manage to solve the problems of ZOI '84, and the directors resigned. The company fell more and more – says Hodžić.

In mid-November this year, Midhat Hubijar, previously unknown to the public, owner of a small security company who spent many years in Saudi Arabia, and among his best friends is the mayor of Novi Grad Municipality, Semir Efendić, was elected general director.

After Hubijar's appointment, nine and a half out of 14 unpaid salaries were paid to the workers. Hubijar seemingly has a very sound plan for the company's recovery.

- We will lease the company's administrative building to tenants, from whose rents we will repay a loan of eight million convertible marks, which the company took from BOR bank for new investments and payment of outstanding salaries – Hubijar confirmed in a conversation with Patria.

Workers Evicted

The workers froze the strike that has been ongoing since the summer, and returned to work. However, just a few days later, accusations began to fly from both sides. Workers accuse the new director of acting arbitrarily, while Hubijar claims the company will move forward and that workers must be patient.

He admits that there are "some disagreements" with the ZOI '84 Trade Union, but he is sure that his plan will bring the company back to profitability.

Hodžić says that he would probably prefer ZOI '84 to operate positively more than Hubijar, but it is still unclear to him why Hubijar is hiding the plan on how he intends to revive the company, if he has one at all, why he is hiding to whom and for how much he leased the administrative building on Branilaca Srajeva street, and how he plans to pay the next salary to the workers.

Why Hubijar is hiding to whom he leased (sold) the building

- Over the weekend, we were evicted from the administrative building, and now we are in the Zetra premises. We agree with the decision to lease our building, but for days Director Hubijar has refused to say to whom he leased our building. It is unclear to us why he is hiding this from us – says Hodžić.

Workers fear that major corruption is being prepared within ZOI '84, where someone will buy their building for a small amount of money, which would likely mean the end of this enterprise, writes NAP.