Under SDA Leadership's Order, Čaušević Issued Certificate to Oruč for Selling Chinese Goods as BiH Products

Bihać Refrigeration Industry (BIRA) has ceased production, leaving 173 workers jobless, apparently because the majority owner of the once-promising company, Selver Oruč, lost the political support of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) leadership, writes the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

According to testimony Kemal Čaušević, former director of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, gave to the BiH Prosecutor's Office this year, he personally, through his subordinates, enabled Oruč to export refrigeration units to countries in the region and beyond. These were Chinese goods, which were almost entirely repackaged in BiH, but still marketed as BiH products under the BIRA brand, bringing Oruč enormous profits.

European Market

This posed a significant risk to BiH's reputation in the European market, but despite the risk, Čaušević's position as head of the ITA was, at one point, conditional on issuing illegal certificates for Oruč and his BIRA.

After Oruč lost the political support of the SDA leadership, and the export of Chinese goods was threatened, he was unable to restart sustainable production on his own, leading to the collapse of the only BiH company manufacturing refrigeration units, and leaving over 170 workers jobless.

The smooth, but illegal, export of Chinese goods from BiH under the BIRA brand continued until 2008. The export was jeopardized after BIRA's competitor, Gorenje, began questioning the origin of BIRA's products in the markets of seven countries to which BIRA exported, primarily Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova...

However, the ITA, led by Čaušević, and at the request of political mentors, falsified reports in favor of BIRA again.

Patria also presents Čaušević's testimony, given to the BiH Prosecutor's Office in September this year, which clearly confirms that the majority owner of BIRA, Oruč, had positive business operations in previous years only because he engaged in illegal activities, with the support of the country's leading political parties.

Meeting with Terzić

- Around 2004, before the Indirect Taxation Authority (of BiH) became fully operational, the then-Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzić, asked me to help 'Robot' in some way. Given my heavy workload, I ignored that request – Čaušević told investigators from the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

A meeting between him and BIRA representatives would occur several months later, at the renewed insistence of the SDA leadership itself. Čaušević was told that Oruč was a major donor to the SDA and a man always ready to help.

- This meeting took place in the building of the Regional Center Sarajevo at Đoke Mazalića street no. 5. I received the director of BIRA, Faruk Hadžipašić, and Sajma, the sister of Selver Oruč, the owner of Robot komerc (majority owner of BIRA). They told me they had refrigeration units, i.e., refrigerators, worth about four million KM in stock, but they couldn't export them because they lacked confirmation that they were BiH products, and they couldn't get that confirmation because they weren't BiH products. The refrigeration units were only assembled in BiH, and most of the parts originated from China, which is why they couldn't obtain confirmation, specifically the EUR1 form, which would automatically exempt them from paying customs duties in the countries where they would sell the refrigeration units – said Čaušević.

Čaušević received confirmation from multiple sources that BIRA could not sell Chinese goods as domestic products under any circumstances, but through his authority and friendly connections within the ITA and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, he managed to secure a EUR1 certificate for BIRA.

- At the time, I genuinely thought I was doing good for BiH because there was no financial damage to BiH in these transactions. It is evident that Oruč made enormous profits this way, as his product was exempt from import duties in the countries to which he exported – Čaušević stated, among other things.

He explained that the issue of BIRA's privatization itself at the time gave particular significance to Oruč's profit. Oruč found a certain number of finished refrigeration units in BIRA's inventory, which he acquired for a small sum. Čaušević even admitted that Oruč received confirmation that these products were BiH products, even though he himself did not participate in their production.

GAVE AN APARTMENT IN SARAJEVO AS A GIFT

Kemal Čaušević was dismissed from his position as director of the Indirect Taxation Authority at the end of February 2011, after which BIRA's operations with the ITA also became unstable, Patria writes.

Čaušević also admitted that he later learned that because of this EUR form, which the Authority he headed illegally issued to BIRA, Oruč, in return, gifted an apartment in Centar Sarajevo to a high-ranking SDA official.