Open Letter to Novalić: Life is a colourful ball, but due to SDA and HDZ it bounces in the wrong direction

The Association of Citizens, Shareholders and Unit Holders in Companies and Investment Funds in Bosnia and Herzegovina sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Fadil Novalić, regarding his latest public appearances, Patria reports.

We watched your guest appearance on the N1 show and we cannot remain passive without writing you this letter because our evidence contradicts your claims:

- Firstly, we want to tell you that our SET team has identified the possibility of reducing the problem (crisis) in the FBiH and that this can be achieved by centralising payment transactions because we have our UNION Bank d.d. Sarajevo, in which the Federal Ministry of Finance owns 91.4381%, and the ninth shareholder is Vakufska Banka d.d. Sarajevo with 0.2358% ownership. And in Vakufska Banka d.d. Sarajevo, the first shareholder is FDS d.d. Sarajevo with 66.5050% ownership, and in FDS d.d. Sarajevo, the first shareholder is the FBiH with 39.9058% ownership.

So, these facts alone speak to your false claims because the data for UNION BANK clearly shows that the owner of UNION Bank d.d. Sarajevo with 91.4381% is the Federal Ministry of Finance, not the FBiH. You advocated “urgently” for it to be entered into the Securities Register, so that instead of the “hitherto” registered competent Ministries, the Federation of BiH would be registered. It is sad that this is not the case in UNION BANK d.d. Sarajevo. (HDZ does not allow it).

What a contradiction of the FBiH Government you lead.

So, the centralisation of payment transactions in the FBiH is impossible until a change is made in UNION BANK d.d. Sarajevo so that instead of: the Federal Ministry of Finance (HDZ) it is changed to the Federation of BiH.

The fact is that private companies cannot be directed to conduct their payment transactions through UNION BANK, but companies such as JP BH TELECOM d.d. Sarajevo, JP ELEKTROPRIVREDA d.d. Sarajevo, JP ŽELJEZNICE FBiH d.d. Sarajevo, JP EP HZ HB d.d. Mostar, JP HT d.d. Mostar, “Aluminij” d.d. Mostar and other “state-owned companies” can be obliged to conduct their payment transactions through UNION BANK d.d. Sarajevo. The benefit would be enormous and UNION BANK would generate profit that is given through dividends to the FBiH budget.

Secondly, we want to point out the non-compliance with the Law by the FBiH Government, which causes enormous damage to the Federation of BiH. This non-compliance with the Law is visible in companies such as: FEROELEKTRO d.d. Sarajevo, where the FBiH Government cannot/(will not) (HDZ does not want) to take over the management of the company, although by a final court ruling from January 2015, 60.6779% of the capital in FEROELEKTRO was returned to the Federation of BiH.

JP Elektroprivreda HZ HB d.d. Mostar is a textbook example of how a company is “forcibly” taken from the Federation of BiH in favour of the HDZ. In this company, illegality is evident. The hiring of “suitable/obedient” employees has resulted in over 120 new hires so far. The Supervisory Board is unconstitutional and illegal. The profit achieved in 2014 was 50 million KM and 35 million KM was left in the current account, which was achieved by the (Federal) management led by Nikola Krešić, who, together with other members of the management, was forcibly pushed out of the company.

Those amounts have already disappeared/melted away. Director Gilja Marinko, with the support of the HDZ, behaves as if JP EP HZ HB d.d. Mostar is his company, rather than what it actually is, the property of the Federation of BiH.

Your statement “life is a colourful ball…” confirms your longing for FK Zvijezda Gradačac and we understand why you say that, but should you address young people like that when it is clear that there is no cure for the crisis and that you are not even seeking that cure, because the examples given can precisely illustrate the situation created by the FBiH Government you lead.

Life is a colourful ball - that is your phrase programmed by the influences of HDZ for the mentioned companies and SDA for BH Telecom, EP BiH and others. And the phrase: “life is a colourful ball…” is not adequate because the ball sometimes bounces in a good direction and sometimes in a wrong one. But we cannot change it, nor our lives... but we can write to you and let readers see how much you do not wish well for young people in the FBiH. That statement of yours is similar to the slogan “say NO to drugs” and the young people replied: “how can I say NO to drugs when I haven't even tried them”.

Thirdly, we want to tell you about your failure at the lecture held on 10.5.2016 in Mostar with the statement: “Everyone wants a better life, but no one wants to change.”

The hall was half-empty, with a total of 58 young people. They would certainly want to change, but when they see you, Jelka Miličević, Lidija Bradara, etc., then the question is: how can someone change when the faces you listed tell them the opposite, that the fight for the party (HDZ and SDA) confirms that these individuals do not change, but they are getting better and better.

Hold a lecture on how to improve corporate governance and that the interests of citizens are above “party” interests, then your halls will be much fuller - the open letter states.