Mobbing, dismissals, and Lasić's purges at the behest of loyal staff: Employees seek justice in court!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Jasmina Olovčić, now a former employee of Autoceste FBiH, is one of those who faced problems after the arrival of the new director Denis Lasić (HDZBiH), and who will seek justice in court.

As she testifies for the Patria News Agency, after the political dismissal of the Management of Autoceste and the appointment of a new one, headed by acting director Denis Lasić, in May 2023, mobbing directed at her began, concerning her job position.

“In various ways, in writing and orally, without valid reasons, they tried to obtain confidential and sensitive information from all the procedures I conducted. Since they could not obtain the requested data and information, for procedures that had already been completed, apart from the basic ones, in June, a Report for initiating disciplinary proceedings followed, and acting director Denis Lasić transferred all the work I performed as Head of Department to Katica Vranjković. My official email was also taken away, and access to the office and documentation was restricted,” says Olovčić.

Of course, that Decision on the transfer of authority and responsibility for procurement procedures under international procedures is also not in accordance with the Rulebook and the Labor Law.

“In short, they cannot work with me because they want to gain personal benefit, and that is not possible with me in this position. The Decision on the termination of the Employment Contract for the position of ‘Head of the Procurement Department for International Procedures’, due to a serious violation of labor discipline – ‘Providing inaccurate data, which could affect bad business decisions of the Management of JP Autoceste FBiH’ was served to me on 07/21/2023.

Neither the Report nor the Decision were absolutely conducted and written in accordance with the Rulebook of JP Autoceste FBiH, nor the Labor Law. The Commission for conducting disciplinary proceedings proposed that the mildest prescribed measure, a warning, be imposed on me, even though those three members did not have a unified stance regarding the Proposal of the Decision.

Namely, one member of the commission believed that I had no responsibility for the allegations against me, while the other two members of the commission proposed a measure of oral or written reprimand.

However, the acting director, Denis Lasić, clearly driven by political motives and the desire to control procurement with the help of the former Head of Department, Katica Vranjković, who was dismissed due to unjustifiably long procurement procedures (dragging them out) and unauthorized sharing of information with the former minister, and now acting director Lasić Denis, with the intention of ‘rigging’ procedures, which I myself had previously confirmed while working in commissions, decided to impose the strictest measure, i.e., the disciplinary measure of termination of the employment contract,” says Olovčić.

After the report for disciplinary proceedings, Lasić engaged a person under a contract for work for one year (again violating the provisions of the Rulebook and the Labor Law), who performs the tasks of evaluating bids for open international procurement procedures with the EBRD and EIB, without being appointed to the evaluation committees; has access to electronic and physical documentation; has access to the EBRD electronic procurement system, etc.

“I reported the aforementioned actions, given that the integrity of the Procurement Department for International Procedures is threatened, ex officio, to the investigative departments of the EBRD and EIB, regarding which investigations are currently underway.

I also contacted the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs with a request for an immediate inspection, however, I received the answer to contact the Court.

In addition, I contacted the Personal Data Protection Agency, given that I have been denied access to my official email address since June 2023, completely unfounded. All data from the email were extracted and provided to third parties.

I was not officially notified of the data extraction, although the email in question contains highly confidential data and communications. The fact that ‘access to the password and electronic address (email) is the sole responsibility of each employee and should not be given to third parties’, as stated in the basic rules on personal data protection aligned with GDPR standards, has been ignored here. Ignoring the citation, according to available information, the email account is still functional, and someone has access to it,” says Jasmina.

She filed a lawsuit with the competent Municipal Court in Mostar, and she also sought protection of human and labor rights violated by the current Management of JPAC from the Institution of the Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, as she sincerely believes, will form a case based on the presented evidence.

She was employed at JP Autoceste FBiH in December 2016, in the Sector for Design and Construction, Department for Expertise, as a traffic engineer. In March 2017, as a scholarship holder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), she enrolled in the Master's study of International Public Procurement (IMPPM) at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.

With the change of the job systematization in JPAC, and the formation of the Department for Procurement under International Procedures, in May 2017, she received a new contract as a specialist associate in the Department for International Procurement.

Katica Vranjković, a long-time acquaintance and friend of the Executive Director of the Economic and Financial Affairs Sector, Ivica Ćurić, was appointed head of the department from the Economic and Financial Affairs Sector, even though she did not know English, nor the rules and procedures of international public procurement. It was already known then that she was appointed to that position with strong political support from the HDZ, and directly by the then minister Denis Lasić and the Executive Director of the Economic and Financial Affairs Sector, Ivica Ćurić (deceased), with the primary motive of ‘rigging’ tenders according to the wishes of Denis Lasić and Ivica Ćurić, who received all information about the procedures from her and traded with potential bidders of works/consultants.

In January 2020, she managed to transfer to another position, in the Sector for Design and Construction, Department for Study Documentation, Social and Environmental Policy. With the arrival of Elmedin Voloder at the head in 2021, she was returned to the Department for International Procurement.

“I responsibly claim that every procedure, and there were over 20 of them, was conducted in the best possible way, which can be confirmed by international financial institutions, EIB and EBRD,” stated Olovčić.

Recognizing her work ability, Voloder appointed her Head of the Department for Procurement under International Procedures in April 2023, and the then head, Katica Vranjković, due to her actions and work methods, was transferred to the position of Head of the Marketing Department.

However, with the arrival of Lasić, everything changed, and now Jasmina will have to seek her rights in court. We recall the earlier story that less than a month after his appointment, on June 23, 2023, acting director Lasić made changes to the decisions on appointing evaluation committees for the construction of Corridor Vc, which is managed by the Department for Procurement under International Procedures, and instead of highly educated and experienced committee members, he appointed members who do not speak English, let alone know the rules and procedures of procurement financed by international financial institutions. Now he has done the same in the Department for Design and Construction, with project managers – investor representatives for the highway sections under construction.

Lasić is dangerously settling scores with staff within the company, mostly Bosniaks, whom he dismisses and appoints new ones! All of this, according to information, happens based on the advice of Lasić's loyal staff.