Nikšić: Millions in crime being prepared within the FBiH Government

There are very serious indications that an organized group is operating within the FBiH Government, aiming to cause the Government to lose a lawsuit filed by the company Ferimpex Zavidovići, in the amount of just over five million KM plus interest, so that this money can later be divided among the members of that group, warned Nermin Nikšić, president of SDP BiH, at a press conference today.

- My wish is to warn the public in this way and send a clear message about what the current government in FBiH is doing and how, because we have obtained information that is very worrying and indicates potential major abuses being prepared within the government institutions in FBiH – said Nikšić.

He reminded that the FBiH Government filed a criminal complaint against him and other unidentified persons for attempting to link the length of service for Krivaja workers, by which Nikšić, according to the government of Fadil Novalić, damaged the FBiH budget by about 43 million KM.

Nikšić had previously denied such claims, and at the beginning of the week, he filed a criminal complaint for abuse of position and false reporting against the responsible persons from the FBiH Government who are behind the report against him.

- I have already warned in public addresses that this is actually an attempt to hide something that is being agreed upon and attempted to be carried out far from the public eye, and now we have come to clear indications and evidence, which warn that the entire case is a cover for a new multi-million dollar robbery.

These indications were indirectly confirmed by the FBiH Government in their statement of 12/09/2016, where they stated that 'on June 7, 2011, the FBiH Government made a decision to terminate the contract that the FBiH Government concluded in 2008 and its annex from 2009 with the company Ferimpex regarding joint venture and the establishment of the company Krivaja 1884'.

It is further stated that this company worked successfully and paid wages to workers as well as contributions, and that the contract was terminated without reason and that the FBiH Government now lacks adequate argumentation for a successful defense.

All of the above in this statement is a complete untruth.

This leads us to a clear suspicion that a group of individuals from the FBiH Government who are spreading these untruths are trying to bring about an unfavorable settlement in the dispute or that the dispute is consciously being led towards being lost.

We are also attaching two documents that prove that the government of Fadil Novalić is misleading the public with these claims and consciously harming the position of the FBiH Government in the aforementioned court case. It is known to you that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some high-ranking officials have been acquitted in court rulings because the original documentation disappeared, and it is in my interest to preserve the original documentation.

The first document is from April 26, 2011, which the lawyer of the company Ferimpex d.o.o. Zavidovići sent to the FBiH Government, in which the Government is informed that this company irrevocably terminates the joint venture agreement from 2008 and its annex from 2009.

The current government of Fadil Novalić claims that our government terminated the contract without any explanation and thus harmed the Federation. This document proves that this is an absolute untruth and that Ferimpex terminated the contract two months earlier.

The second document we are presenting is a recapitulation of the audit report on the operations of Krivaja 1884 as of October 15, 2010, prepared by the audit firm Dervi from Jajce. The report clearly states that the company's liabilities on that day amounted to 35 million KM, of which 24 million relates to liabilities for various types of taxes and contributions. Therefore, the company, which the government of Fadil Novalić claims worked successfully and without debt, owed at least 24 million KM to workers alone, and this amount increased further because the same company operated and incurred liabilities for another 6 months after the audit. Based on these, as well as a number of other pieces of information, the FBiH Government that I led in October 2011 instructed the FBiH Legal Affairs Service to file a counterclaim for the amount of these liabilities against the company Ferimpex d.o.o.

We believe that an attempt is being made today to consciously harm the position of the FBiH Government in this court case. It is particularly significant that in the FBiH Budget for 2017, the items for the execution of court judgments and payment of court cases have 7 million KM more funds planned than in the previous year, which, coincidentally or not, corresponds to the amount for which the FBiH is being sued in this case, along with the amount of interest – said Nikšić.

He called on the competent prosecutor's offices to urgently get involved and investigate these allegations, because, he said, there are serious indications that an attempt is being made to damage the FBiH budget by several million KM, by consciously leading to the loss of the court case or by reaching an out-of-court settlement to the detriment of the FBiH under the false pretext of the impossibility of a positive outcome.