Pandurević claims: Viaduct is just the beginning, RS in the lobby of financial hell

(Patria) - SDS Presidency member Aleksandra Pandurević says that the report of the Attorney's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be before MPs tomorrow, indicates that the Viaduct affair is just the lobby of the financial hell that the Republika Srpska is entering, because the total value of arbitration disputes and claims is over 2.2 billion KM.

Over two billion and two hundred million KM amount to four arbitration proceedings and one request for peaceful settlement of dispute (Hrvatska elektroprivreda in the case of RiTE Gacko).

Of those four arbitration proceedings, two have been concluded (Viaduct and Slovenia's lawsuit regarding RiTE Ugljevik in Belgrade), while the third is ongoing (arbitration in Washington following Slovenia's lawsuit in the case of RiTE Ugljevik), and the fourth is pending initiation (Trusina)," states Pandurević.

A shell company, with no employees, she adds, won an arbitration dispute worth 100 million KM plus daily interest of 18,000 KM.

The piquant detail is that the RS Government rejected a settlement in the amount of one million euros. When we turn to Google, it reveals that Viaduct has no employees and that its accounts are often blocked.

If you try to Google something about the owners, again a mystery. Their names are mentioned only in the context of arbitration. No pictures, no sound, even though one would expect we are dealing with 'big fish'.

It is interesting that no one from the authorities in the RS has denied that they rejected a settlement of one million euros, so the logical question arises – was the settlement rejected because of a bigger pie!?", asks Pandurević.

However, judging by the sparse report on the work of the Attorney's Office of BiH, another identical arbitration awaits the RS and BiH – the Trusina wind farm. This time it is about 102 million euros, emphasizes Pandurević.

The law firm 'Baroš', which also represented Viaduct, addressed the Council of Ministers with a warning before initiating arbitration, demanding the return of the concession or payment of 102 million euros. What is this about?

Kermas energija from Zagreb is the majority owner of Eol Prvi from Nevesinje, to which the RS Government awarded a concession in 2012 for the construction and use of the Trusina wind farm.

The project was never started because Kermas energija never provided a bank guarantee, justifying this by the fact that incentives for electricity production were abolished in the meantime.

Since there was no guarantee, the Government terminated the concession agreement in 2019. Kermas's legal representative claims that the guarantee was not provided because the Regulatory Commission for Energy of the RS rejected their requests for incentives without legal basis," notes Pandurević.

In the continuation of the statement, she adds that "this time the RS is fighting a battle with one of the richest Croats, Danko Končar, who stands behind Kermas energija, which was founded precisely in 2012."

"The accounts of this company are also often blocked, it has no employees, and in 2023, the initiation of pre-bankruptcy proceedings was requested, which the court rejected.

Elektrogospodarstvo Slovenije initiated two arbitration disputes due to its pre-war investments in RiTE Ugljevik.

They won the first arbitration in Belgrade, against the RS, which should pay Slovenians 372 million KM (245 million plus 127 million for undelivered electricity).

In the report of the Attorney's Office of BiH, there is only one sentence, namely that a second arbitration proceeding is underway in Washington against BiH, in which Slovenians are seeking 695,175,000 euros!

Following the example of the Slovenians, Hrvatska elektroprivreda sent a request for peaceful resolution of the dispute regarding the investment in RiTE Gacko, in which they demand payment of 100 million euros with applicable interest!", lists Pandurević.

She assesses that these arbitrations are the real reason for fear for the future of the RS and that the greatest danger comes from those who have been unable to resolve these disputes before arbitration for 20 years.